Ensure no Medical Seat Remains Vacant: Supreme Court tells Centre

New Delhi: Observing that medical seats cannot remain vacant, the Supreme Court bench has asked the Central Government to hold a meeting with the relevant stakeholders, including the states to resolve the matter.

The issue of vacant medical seats came to light when the Apex Court bench comprising Justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan was informed that the speciality seats in medical courses were being left unfilled raising concerns about the utilization of available resources.

Taking note of this, the top court bench observed, "Seats also cannot go vacant."

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that the Supreme Court had previously highlighted the importance of filling the super-specialty medical seats back in 2023.

Back then, while lamenting over the vacant super specialty seats, the Apex Court bench comprising Justices BR Gavai and Pankaj Mittal had observed in an order dated April 13, "The present petition depicts a very sorry picture that 1,003 precious super specialty seats are going to waste, inasmuch as nobody could be admitted on the said seats. On the one hand, we find that there is always a shortage of super specialty doctors and on the other hand these precious seats remain unfilled."