Chennai: 54 per cent of PG medical seats go the service doctor way

Chennai: 54 percent medical seats on the 2nd day of counselling for postgraduate students went the service doctors way, while 45 percent seats fell into the lap of service doctors on Sunday.

In accordance with the seat matrix allocations granted by the Selection Committee out of the total of 443 seats allotted on the day, service doctors managed to get 242 seats, or 54 percent, while non-service doctors were granted 201 seats or 45 percent.

Counselling was delayed due to the legal differences having arisen between the service doctors and the government after the abolition of 50 per cent reservation for government service candidates in PG medical admissions by the Medical Council of India. Incentive marks are to be granted only for doctors working in remote, difficult and rural areas. The council has also made NEET-based admissions mandatory for postgraduate students across the country.

According to a source, this could have been done due to the State not allowing candidates to get seats under all India quota counselling.

On Saturday the Madras High Court had directed the state to follow only Medical Council of India regulations in awarding incentive marks to government service doctors. It also did away with the age-old practice of reserving 50% of government quota seats to in-service candidates. The decision will now bring a distinctive change to the character of postgraduate admissions in the state reported TNIE.

775 of the 1,344 candidates called for counselling on Sunday, got seats under all India quota.