Only 8 PG medical seats approved against 39 applied last year by Gujarat Medical Colleges

Ahmedabad: While replying to a series of questions in the Gujarat Assembly, health minister Rushikesh Patel said that out of eight PG seats added in one last year, four were approved in Dharampur, Patan district, three seats in Himatnagar and one in Valsad.

He added that more seats would be added in the future by the Gujarat government since the process of inspection is underway.

In a reply to a question asked by Navsari MLA Rakesh Desai, the minister said last year 39 PG seats were sought for approval from the state government out of which only 8 medical seats have been added in different medical colleges.

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Currently, there are 87 MD and MS seats at the GMERS colleges in Ahmedabad, Sola, Vadodara, and Gandhinagar said the Minister.

The approval for pathology, microbiology, anaesthesiology, and orthopaedic surgery has been sought, added the minister. As per the data shared, GMERS college in Gotri, Sola and Gandhinagar have 87 MD and MS seats, 24 in Gotri, 45 in Sola and 18 in Gandhinagar, TOI reports.

Talking about the staff crunch at different medical colleges in the state, the minister stated MP Shah Medical College in Jamnagar is among the top with 133 of 325 teaching posts, or 41%, vacant.

In a reply to a question asked by Patan MLA Kirit Patel, the government stated that 30.7% of teaching posts are vacant at government medical colleges. Of the sanctioned strength of 2,153, there are 661 posts vacant.

Ahmedabad had the lowest teaching staff shortfall at 19%. Of 442 sanctioned posts, 85 are vacant.

Against the sanctioned strength of 1,784 teaching posts in the 13 GMERS colleges, 823 or 46.1% are vacant. Among these 13 colleges, Porbandar is the worst off as 78 of 95 sanctioned posts, or 82.1% are vacant. Followed by Godhra, where 75 of 95 posts (79%) are vacant.

Himatnagar had 26.5% of sanctioned posts vacant, 36 of 136. At the Sola GMERS college, 66 of 195 sanctioned posts (33.9%) are vacant. At Gotri, 63 of the 192 sanctioned posts 32.81% are unfilled.

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