MCI allots 46 more postgraduate seats to Faridkot medical college

Balwant Garg

Tribune News Service

Faridkot, March 30

The Medical Council of India (MCI) has allotted 46 more postgraduate (PG) seats to Guru Gobind Singh Medical College and Hospital, Faridkot, the highest ever to a medical college in the region in one go.

The MCI has allotted a total of 51 new PG seats to Punjab as five seats have been increased in Government Medical College, Patiala.

On March 20, the MCI had recommended the increase in the PG seats in the clinical subjects of government medical colleges for the academic year 2017-2018. Now, the Union Ministry of Health has approved these seats and the Faridkot medical college was informed about these.

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With these 46 seats in PG clinical subjects, the total number of PG seats (clinical and non-clinical) in the Faridkot medical college is now 100. The undergraduate (MBBS) seats in this college are also 100.

Three government medical colleges in Punjab at Faridkot, Amritsar and Patiala offer 100, 200 and 200 MBBS seats, respectively.

In Faridkot medical college, the seats for anaesthesia have been increased from two to 12, while the number of seats for general medicine has gone up from three to 10. In surgery ENT, ophthalmology, orthopaedics and general surgery, the seats have been increased from two to six, two to seven, two to five and four to 11, respectively.

For MD paediatrics, the seats have increased from two to five and for psychiatry there will be four in place of the existing three seats.

The number of seats for MD DVL (dermatology and venereology and leprosy) and MD Respiratory Medicine has increased from three to seven and one to three, respectively.

In Government Medical College, Patiala, a total of five PG seats have been added. Among these, three seats are in OBG (obstetrics and gynaecology), one seat each in ophthalmology and psychiatry.

The increase in PG seats is on the lines of the MCI revising its teacher-student ratio as per the directions of the Centre. As per the notification issued by the MCI under its PG regulations, the teacher-student ratio shall be 1:3 for professor and 1:2 for associate professor for all government medical colleges.

Dr Raj Bahadur, Vice Chancellor, Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS), said the increase in the PG seats was a great achievement for the state. Faridkot medical college is a constituent college of BFUHS.

As the state is facing shortage of medical specialists, the increase of PG seats would help create more specialists, the VC said.

Over 300 specialist doctors’ posts are lying vacant in Punjab health department and many walk-in-interviews, organised by the health department failed to get eligible doctors.

The admission on these 51 new PG seats will be made in the coming days when the counselling for the PG seats would be started in BFUHS here. Fifty per cent of these seats will be filled through central quota.

While there is no addition in PG seats in Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir got 13 and 42 new seats, respectively, this time.

Other states which have been allotted PG seats include Gujarat (211 seats), Andhra Pradesh (143), Delhi (129), Assam (102) and Chhattisgarh (24).