SC verdict on PG medical seats will hit State students, feels Harish Rao

BRS expresses concern over Supreme Court ruling on local reservation for Telangana PG medical seats, impacting healthcare services.

HYDERABAD

The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) has expressed concern over the immense loss likely to be caused to the students of Telangana following the Supreme Court judgement that 50% local reservation would not apply to post-graduate medical seats.

Party leader and former minister for health T. Harish Rao said in a statement on Thursday that the judgement would be highly detrimental not only to the students of Telangana but all Southern States, where medical education was developed by the States concerned by spending huge funds since health and health education was a State subject.

Urging the State government to move the Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court and build pressure on the Centre for amendment in the Constitution, if needed, in the matter to protect the interests of the State’s students as decided by neighbouring Tamil Nadu already, Mr. Harish Rao said the Supreme Court verdict would deny opportunity of PG medical education to a large number of local students.

As of now, there were 2,924 PG medical seats in Telangana in the government and private medical colleges and with the help of 50% local reservation, at least 1,462 PG seats were going to Telangana students. However, the Supreme Court decision would club those seats into the all-India pool. It would also affect the SC, ST and BC reservation as also the in-service quota in PG affecting the healthcare services in rural areas badly.

Against the national average of one medical PG student providing healthcare service to 20,460 patients, it was 12,799 in Telangana, 10,573 in Karnataka, 15,079 in Andhra Pradesh, 15,123 in Tamil Nadu and 18,662 in Kerala. The same in the Northern States was three times that of the national average, Mr. Harish Rao noted.