No pooling of J&K MBBS, MD/MS seats AIQ this year, confirms govt

The J&K government has confirmed that there would be no pooling of MBBS and MD/MS seats this year.

Ever since the UT (Union Territories) government had announced the pooling of MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine and a Bachelor of Surgery) and MD (Doctor of Medicine)/MS (Masters of Surgery) seats in the All India Quota (AIQ), the medical students of J&K were protesting against the decision. Now, the government has confirmed that for this year there will not be a pooling of medical seats in AIQ by J&K.

Additional Chief Secretary to J&K Government (Health and Medical Education), Vivek Bhardwaj, said that the decision to postpone the seat pooling had been taken with the Central government after considering the concerns of the medical aspirants from J&K. The decision to postpone the pooling of medical seats to next year is applicable to for both undergraduate and postgraduate medical courses.

J&K government had earlier said that as per the Supreme Court orders, 15% of MBBS seats and 50% of the postgraduate medical seats in the J&K medical colleges would be shared in AIQ. It also means that the UG and PG medical aspirants from the region would be able to claim medical seats in colleges across the country. However, the government's decision raised concerns among the medical students that they will have to compete at the all India level when they have only prepared for J&K level competition.

J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha tweeted, “Met NEET Post-Graduate MD/MS aspirants today. Listened to their concerns about UT's participation in all India quota in the current year. Students sought more time for preparation. Considering their petition, I'll request the central government to defer it for the current year.” He had added, “It (deferment) will allow the aspirant more time for preparation. They will be in advantageous position and eligible for 5000 seats in MD/MS under AIQ from existing UT seats of 543. Undergraduate students will have access to a larger pool of 4568 seats instead of existing 1000 seats.”

Read more:

• J&K MBBS students protest against pooling of MBBS seats in AIQ
• J&K Lt Governor to request Centre to start UT's participation in AIQ from next year