Unfortunate: 53 super specialty seats still go vacant

Chennai: Despite a 10-day extension being granted by the Supreme Court to the Directorate General of Health Services, to complete counselling, nearly a quarter of seats in the super speciality courses in Tamil Nadu including- paediatric, neurosurgery and cardiothoracic surgery, remain vacant. This lead to a cry being heard for super speciality seat reservation; with the slogan "our state, Our seat" doing the rounds.

In an earlier story, MedicalDialogues had reported that despite earlier reluctance on the part of the supreme court to grant extension it had finally agreed to a 10-day extension be given for mop-up counselling for SS admissions.

The apex court's earlier reluctance had stemmed from the fact that these pleas travelled from the rational to the emotional sphere. The court was of the opinion that an extension would mean breaking disciplinary grounds essential in academic admissions. The court felt that giving in to extension pleas would result in ineligible students earning an advantage. However, at the positive opinion for counselling given by the MCI oversight committee, the apex court decided to give a go ahead for counselling

With 1,011 super-speciality seats in the country and 553 including 99 seats in Tamil Nadu, remaining vacant until October 11, the Supreme Court had allowed DGHS to conduct a special mop-up counselling within a 10 day extension period.PG students were asked to respond to these vacancies and join colleges by the coming Saturday

Read more at Medical Dialogues: SC gives way for 'mop up counselling extension' for vacant SS seats.

Now, with the counselling over, Madras Medical College (MMC), still has no takers for its 30 super speciality courses; though they were accessible to PG doctors all across the country.

The DGHS had been responsible for the admission process for Super-specialty courses this year. The Directorate of Medical Education, Tamil Nadu, on Wednesday, revealed 53 seats, including 30 in the Madras Medical College to have remained vacant even after the mop-up.

"Most of the seats were a surgical speciality. About 14 seats from cardiothoracic surgery and eight in paediatric surgery were vacant just in Madras Medical College. There were also vacant seats in neurosurgery, neurology, hepatology, and neonatology," Selection Committee Secretary, Dr. G Selvarajan told TOI.

However, as seats continued to remain vacant, Dr. P Balakrishnan, Chennai Unit President, Tamil Nadu Government Doctors Association in a statement said, "If they had reserved seats for domiciliary candidates, we could have minimized wastage."

Until last year, 50% seat surrender left the state with a reserve of 50% for students of the state, reports TOI.