Union health ministry approves more MBBS seats for J&K

SRINAGAR — The Government of India has approved additional 85 MBBS seats for Jammu and Kashmir, taking total number of medical berths available for aspirants to 985 this academic year.

On Friday, Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) issued a communication to all States sanctioning enhancement of MBBS seats in the respective Government Medical Colleges (GMC) under Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category.

While the GMCs at Srinagar and Jammu have got 30 seats each, Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Science Soura has been allotted 25 additional seats.

With the addition of the fresh seats, the intake capacity of the two GMCs has reached to 180 seats each while the capacity of SKIMS has gone up to 125 seats.

The State has now got a total of 485 additional seats including 400 seats which were allotted to four new Medical Colleges of the State. The fresh seat enhancement comes as part of government of India’s decision to that guarantees reservation for the EWS.

The Medical Colleges across different states including those in J&K had been directed to submit applications seeking enhancement in intake capacity to accommodate the reservation without disturbing the overall category-wise distribution.

“After carefully considering the matter, MoHFW has accepted the proposal of Board of Governors of Medical Council of India and hereby directs counseling authorities of States and union territories for filling up MBBS seats under EWS as per rules in the upcoming academic session,” reads a letter by Union Health Ministry.

An official in Health and Medical Education Department said that approval for more seats under the EWS category was awaited for the new Medical Colleges. “We may get have 100 more seats,” he said.