Kerala gets 74 more medical PG seats

Thiruvananthapuram: Medical Council of India has given approval for 74 more clinical PG seats in the state.  The seats increased in various medical colleges include 54 in Thiruvananthapuram, ten each in Calicut and Alappuzha medical colleges respectively. The state government had made a strong bid for getting 200 additional PG seats of the 5000 seats to be created by Centre annually. The following increase of seats is likely in various departments of medical colleges;  

Thiruvananthapuram Medical College: Orthopaedics - 6 to 14, Paediatrics  9 to 21, Psychiatry 3 to 11, Radio diagnosis 3 to 7, Radiotherapy 3 to 6, Respiratory medicine 4 to 6 and  OBG 11 to 27

Calicut Medical College: Dermatology 5 to 7, Surgery 16 to 19, Radio diagnosis 5 to 8 and Radiotherapy  2 to 4.

TDMC Alappuzha:  Medicine 7 to 16 Paediatrics 4 to 5  Many believe that more than getting additional seats, the focus should be on getting recognition for the existing unrecognised PG seats. At the moment the government medical colleges put together have 703 PG seats and 101 super speciality seats. Of these nearly 30 per cent are unrecognised.

 It may be recalled that the MCI had permitted the government medical colleges to admit students to maximum number of seats on the assurance that requisite facilities would be created in the due course for recognition. However, deficiencies like faculty shortage, inadequate library facilities, absence of original publications by professors, ICU facilities, and inadequate support systems in various departments continue to plague medical colleges.