Do away with all-India quote system in medical admission: Anbumani

CHENNAI: As 16 MBBS seats in the government medical colleges are vacant, PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss urged the State government to take measures to fill the seats and the Central government to do away with the all-India quota system.

In a statement, Anbumani said that 16 seats in government colleges, which were allocated to the all-India quota, are vacant. Also, three seats in AIIMS Madurai and 17 seats in private medical colleges remain vacant. Wrong admission policy followed by the National Medical Commission (NMC).

"Till 2020-2021, counselling for all-India seats will be held twice and if the seats remain vacant, they will be returned to the state governments. As per present norms, four rounds of counselling will be conducted and the seats will remain vacant if no one joins," he said.

He opined that if the vacant seats are transferred to the State government, eligible students could join MBBS. However, the Central government's action of not transferring seats and ending the admission date are the reasons for the present situation.

"The State government spends Rs. 1 crore to produce a doctor in government medical colleges. If the 16 seats remain vacant, several crores of rupees will go to waste. Moreover, 16 students are denied the opportunity of pursuing medicine. The government should approach the Supreme Court to fill the vacant seats like it did in the past," he urged.

He suggested doing away with the all-India quota system to avoid such issues.

"In the 1980s, several states did not have sufficient medical colleges. To ensure students from such states get medical education, an all-India quota system was introduced. Now, all the states have medical colleges. The Central government should cancel the all-India quota system," he demanded.