Union Health Ministry Approval: 22 PG Diploma seats converted to PG Degree at GMC Srinagar

Srinagar: Taking advantage of the one-time conversion opportunity will now prove beneficial to the state as the Union Health Ministry is reported to have given its nod to Srinagar Government Medical College, GMC Srinagar to converting 22 of its Post-Graduate (PG) Diploma seats into PG Degree from this academic year.

The confirmation to this effect was communicated by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) to GMC Srinagar informing about approval by Medical Council of India (MCI) to convert its 19 PG diploma seats into MD/MS seats. 3 Post-Graduate Diploma seats were already given their go-ahead by the apex medical council.

GMC Srinagar had applied for the conversion of 12 Post-Graduate Diploma seats in Gynaecology and Obstetrics, 6 in Anaesthesia and 1 seat in Ophthalmology. All of these seats have been approved, as per recent media report

An official at GMC Srinagar informed Greater Kashmir that the Union Health Ministry has "already communicated" MCI's go-ahead for conversion of 3 diploma seats in the faculty of Dermatology into Degree seats. This makes a total of 22 PG Degree Seats which are going to be added to the Post-Graduate pool quota at the medical institute.

Medical Dialogues team had earlier reported about the public notice issued by the Union Health Ministry giving a last chance to medical colleges to take advantage of the scheme proposed by the MCI which decided to stop all MCI recognised Post-Graduate diploma courses in Medical colleges and give an equal number of MD/MS seats in return.

After receiving the application for the conversion, the ministry is required to issue a notification omitting the name of Diploma in respect of the said medical institute and forward the application along with omission notification and undertaking of the medical college to the Board of Governors Medical Council of India (MCI BoG) for further recommendation.

The Last date to issue a letter of permission by the ministry for the academic session 2019-20 is 28.02.2019.

Following the announcement of this one time opportunity, the majority of the states have rushed at the opportunity to get additional PG degree seats

Read Also: Conversion of PG Diploma Seats to MD, MS seats: Ministry of Health issues notice

Earlier, Tamil Nadu government had put forward 393 PG Diploma seats and the Indore-based deemed Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College (MGM Medical College) applied for the conversion 49 PG Diploma seats.

Read Also: Tamil Nadu gives 393 PG Diplomas seats to Health Ministry for conversion to PG Degrees

Read Also: Conversion of PG Diploma to Degree: MGM Medical College surrenders 49 seats

From Gujarat, a total of 150 Post-Graduate Diploma seats have been submitted for the conversion to PG Degree.

Read Also: PG Diploma to Degree Conversion: Gujarat to get 150 PG Medical seats

Now, as per recent media reports, GMC Srinagar has been granted approval to convert 22 PG diploma seats to PG degree.

For the 19 freshly applied Post-Graduate seats conversion, the order was issued by the Under Secretary in the Department of Health and Family Welfare, P K Bandopadhyay under which Diploma seats of 10 different colleges, including GMC Srinagar, have been converted into degree seats, reports Kashmir Reader.

Speaking to the media, Principal of GMC Srinagar, Prof Samia Rashid confirmed, "We are happy to get the letter from health ministry and this year, GMC (Srinagar) will have 22 more seats in addition to existing ones."

She added that the college will communicate the seat addition to Board of Professional Entrance Examinations (BOPEE). "These seats will be added to matrix this year only," she informed Greater Kashmir.

BOPEE on 20 February declared online registration of NEET qualified candidates open for preparing the state merit list and start the process of admissions.

Last year, GMC Srinagar was granted permission to add 33 MD/MS seats in various clinical branches taking the total degree seats to 160 at the medical institute. With the fresh approval, GMC Srinagar will have 182 PG seats for Post-Graduate Medical candidates.

The communication from MoHFW has also restricted the recognition of diploma courses at the medical college for the batches admitted upto 2018-19 only, adds the daily.

Currently, in Jammu and Kashmir, there are 33 Post-Graduate Diploma seats in Government Medical College Jammu and 1 seat in Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, Soura.

Read Also: Delhi HC notice to NBE, Ministry of Health on NEET PG 2019 results