Last Updated on October 21, 2020 at 6:40 pm
Jammu and Kashmir is expected to get 160 new MBBS seats at various colleges. Currently, there are 985 MBBS seats in all the medical colleges. With the addition of new seats, the total number will rise upto 1,145.
Atal Dulloo, who is the financial commissioner (FC) of health and medical education (H&ME), said that GMC Doda may soon have the allowance of the Medical Council of India for an extra 100 MBBS seats.
Medical colleges other than GMC Doda like GMCs of Anantarang, Baramula, Rajouri and Kathua can also get an increase of 15 seats per college.
These new medical colleges of Jammu and Kashmir other than GMC Doda got approval for 400 seats in June, 2019 by Medical Council of India. Because of its incomplete infrastructure, GMC Doda was not granted approval.
Atal Dulloo said that in the past two years, we have more than doubled our MBBS intake in Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory. It is a great advancement in the educational sector of medical studies and it’s a great relief for the candidates.
The Financial Commissioner said that two AIIMS in J&K, namely Vijaypur and Awantipura, are also undergoing the process of starting MBBS studies. He told that a central team had recently visited GMC Kathua as a possible campus for starting AIIMS Vijaypur MBBS course on a temporary basis. He believed that the site was fine and wished that the approval would be provided for taking the first batch for 2020-21.
For now, he is looking at 50 seats. He also said that the next year, AIIMS Awantipora may also be started in a GMC in Kashmir as a temporary campus.
In 2012, five new medical colleges were allotted to J&K. A health official said in 2019 that even though there are some shortcomings in human resources and infrastructure, still MCI permitted them to start with a rider to remove the shortcomings within the given time.
Under Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category, 85 more seats are allowed. Under the section, 30 seats were increased in each GMC Jammu and Srinagar each while in SKIMS Soura, 25 more seats were added.
