PG seats increased from 72 to 119 at GMCH-32

Charu Chhibber

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 6

In a major encouragement to medical students aspiring to pursue post-graduation, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has sanctioned 47 additional postgraduate seats at Government Medical College and Hospital, (GMCH), Sector 32, here, taking the total from 72 to 119. This will be applicable from the upcoming academic session.

Confirming the same, Dr Atul Sachdev, director-principal, GMHC-32, said the decision has come amid the backdrop of this year’s Budget announcement by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley about creation of additional 5,000 postgraduate (PG) medical seats in country’s medical colleges.

It is pertinent to mention that subsequent to the FM’s announcement, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Medical Council of India (MCI) had asked all government medical colleges to send in their response for an increase in the number of PG seats. The MCI had also relaxed its norms of teacher student ratio from 1:2 to 1: 3.

Dr Sachdev, however, added that the college had applied for an increase in the number of PG seats earlier. “The Ministry had sought details of the faculty in the college. Soon after, we received the official communication from the Ministry about the increase in the number of PG seats, which came as a pleasant surprise to all of us at the GMCH,” he added.

The director-principal conceded that the increase in PG seats would be in the best interest of both, the students and patients.

Welcoming the move, a senior faculty member of the college said the increase in PG seats would reduce the burden on resident doctors.

“The resident doctors at the GMCH are burdened with a lot work as inflow of patients is enormous and resident doctors sometimes find it difficult to take out time for their studies. With additional PG seats, the resident doctors will be able to save some energy for studies also,” he said.