10,000 PG medical seats to be added this year

There are chances of a remarkable addition of 10,000 new postgraduate medical seats from the new academic session this year. This will help in improving the availability of specialists across the country. Not only this, but it will also facilitate the district residency programme, which consists of at least three months of rural posting. Tasked with the powers of the Medical Council of India (MCI), the Board of Governors (BoG) has given a nod to the proposal of increasing the PG medical seats after many states raised concerns about the residency programme.

As per the statement of many state governments, hospitals attached to medical colleges will suffer if these students are sent to district hospitals. The service at district hospitals is compulsory for every postgraduate student. VK Paul, Niti Aayog member and the head of the board of governor, gave the go-ahead to a district residency programme. Currently, there are more than 23,000 PG medical seats and 68,500 UG medical seats in both government and private colleges across the country. The district residency programme has been in the works. However, the BoG approval will facilitate the increase in seats in the session of 2020-21 itself. NEET PG is one of the most sought after medical courses in India.

Going by the official data of health ministry, India is suffering from a shortfall of around 82 per cent specialists. For the last many years, the shortfall in medical staff has been a bone of contention for the government. The Government has been trying to implement several measures. India is far behind the need for medical specialists.

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