Pune: In a bid to address shortage of postgraduate (PG) seats in medical courses, the Medical Council of India (MCI) has amended the Postgraduate Medical Education Regulations, 2000, now called the Postgraduate Medical Education (Amendment) Regulations, 2018.
Around 476 medical colleges are registered under MCI. In all, around 61,000 seats are available for the MBBS. There are 36,000 PG seats against lakhs of applicants for PG courses in medical colleges across India.
The MCI has suggested that all medical colleges offering MBBS should start providing PG courses as well. This will be effective from the academic year 2020-21, in order to provide time to colleges to apply.
Colleges not yet recognised for MBBS degrees under the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956, are also allowed to apply to start PG courses in pre-clinical and para-clinical subjects such as anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, pharmacology, pathology, microbiology, forensic medicine and community medicine, along with the admission of fourth batch for the MBBS course, and in clinical subjects such as anaesthesiology, dermatology, general medicine, paediatrics, ENT, ophthalmology, orthopaedics, obstetrics and gynaecology, along with the admission of fifth batch for the MBBS course.
“Earlier, as per Central government rules, a medical college could start a PG course only after five to six years of establishment. Through this new amendment, the condition has been relaxed. Now, new colleges can also apply for starting a PG course,” said Director of Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) Pravin Shingare. “The new regulations have few more changes such as an increased teacher-student ratio (from 1:1 to 1:2). Similar changes have been made in super-speciality courses as well. These are intended to increase intake capacity,” added Shingare.
5 pc quota for disabled students
One of the clauses in the procedure for selection of candidates for PG courses says five per cent seats should be filled up by persons with benchmark disabilities, in accordance with the provisions of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, based on the merit list of National Eligibility-Cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for admission.
70 PG seats increased this year in State
This year, only 70 seats have been increased for PG admissions in Maharashtra. Last year, DMER had proposed addition of 400 seats, of these, only 300 seats were permitted to be increased in the State. This year, they demanded 100 more seats, of which 70 seats were approved, said Pravin Shingare, Director, DMER.
