3 days ago
Tamil Nadu told to surrender super-speciality medical seats to AIQ counselling; move draws flak
Tamil Nadu had to surrender nearly 130 super-speciality medical seats meant for in-service candidates to the All India Quota (AIQ) counselling before conducting its second round of counselling. This was after the Directorate-General of Health Services (DGHS) asked the State to revert the vacant in-service seats to the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) for all-India counselling.
The decision has drawn criticism from the Tamil Nadu Medical Officers Association (TNMOA) as it sees this as going against the 50% reservation for in-service candidates. TNMOA State secretary M. Akilan said that usually, two rounds of counselling are held for the 215 super-speciality seats reserved for the in-service doctors. 'It is only after this that the vacant seats would be surrendered for the AIQ. But this time, the State has surrendered the seats before conducting the second round. As of now, 75-78 seats have been filled by in-service candidates... They should have sought legal opinion or asked the government before deciding. This goes against the 50% reservation for in-service doctors,' he said.
Official sources said the State had taken up the issue with the DGHS as doctors strongly objected to the surrender of the seats. Tamil Nadu Health Secretary P. Senthilkumar wrote to the DGHS and the Union Health Secretary on June 9, saying that according to a Supreme Court order, 50% of the seats in the super-speciality courses at government medical colleges in Tamil Nadu are reserved for in-service candidates. The NEET Super Speciality (SS) counselling for the State quota in-service candidates was completed on May 27, and a letter was sent to the DGHS on May 29, requesting it to indicate the schedule for the State's second round of counselling to allow upgradation for in-service candidates.
He said several representations were being received from in-service candidates for upgradation in the second round of the State quota counselling. Hence, all the seats reserved for them should be shown in the second round of the State counselling since 50% of seats are reserved exclusively for in-service candidates. He sought early intervention to enable the candidates to get the full benefit of the Supreme Court order.
In a letter dated June 3, the DGHS asked Tamil Nadu to revert the vacant seats. the DGHS referred to Tamil Nadu Selection Committee's request to the MCC to submit the State schedule for round two of NEET SS counselling to allow upgradation to in-service candidates and fill the remaining in-service seats before they are surrendered to the AIQ counselling. However, it said the matter was taken forward to higher authorities but 'the request has not been acceded to since the delay in commencement of round-2 will hamper the whole All India schedule' that has been approved by the Union Health Ministry and ratified by the Supreme Court.
The State counselling schedule, it said, had to run in tandem with the All India counselling schedule. So, conducting round two of State counselling before round two of All India counselling was not feasible. The DGHS asked the Selection Committee to revert the vacant in-service seats to the MCC to be included in the All India seat matrix since round two of All India counselling had begun as per schedule.
Dr. Akilan, in a letter to the Health Secretary, said the decision of the State government to surrender the super-speciality seats for the AIQ immediately after the first round of counselling was a matter of concern. 'This premature surrender of seats is unprecedented and has not been adopted by any other State in the country. This move severely affects the prospects of service doctors who have dedicated years to serving in government institutions, often in challenging and underserved areas,' he said.
The TNMOA urged the government to withhold the surrender of super-speciality seats until the later stages of the counselling process.
