Setback to SMS Medical College! SR Seats Decreased by 56 percent

Jaipur: In a shocking move, the Medical Education Department in Rajasthan decreased the number of senior resident positions at SMS Medical College. Even though the institute has altogether 318 approved posts for senior residency, it has now been decreased to 139 senior resident positions.

The matter came to light after the State Medical Education Department on Thursday released the details for senior resident counselling after the results of the Postgraduate Medical Exam were released.

Releasing the details of seats available for senior residentship counseling the Department distributed 1,737 Senior Resident seats across the State Government Medical Colleges.

Also Read: NMC draft TEQ proposes exemption from 1-year senior residency for doctors with foreign PG medical qualifications

While SMS Medical College received only 139 senior resident positions, the Department has allocated 129 seats at Sardar Patel Medical College (SPMC), Bikaner, 151 seats at Dr. S.N.Medical College, Jodhpur, 125 seats at Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College (JLNMC), Ajmer, 116 seats at Government Medical College (GMC) Kota, and 122 seats at Rabindranath Tagore (RNT) Medical College Udaipur, the Times of India has reported.

As per the Daily, the process of filling up the online application and choice filling will commence on March 20 and continue till March 25 and the final seat allocations will be conducted on March 31.

Completing the Senior Residency remains a mandatory criterion for those doctors who wish to pursue their career in the medical education sector by joining the faculty pool at medical colleges across the country. It is only after completing the senior residency that the doctors become eligible to apply for the posts of Assistant Professors at the medical college.

While this is the requirement, the State Government's decision to decrease the number of available SR seats at SMS Medical College has been severely criticized by the medical fraternity.

TOI has reported that the resident doctors are considering the reduction fro 318 to 139 seats as unlawful and an unjust redistribution. Raising the issue, recently, the association of Jaipur resident doctors met with the DME authorities to discuss their objections in this regard. Further, the association also sought additional SR positions.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that the Rajasthan Government has increased 1727 seats for senior resident doctors. The Medical Education Department has increased these seats following the demands from the senior residents in this regard. While previously around 3,500 such seats were available across different medical departments across the State, now another 1,727 new seats have been added after a video conference of medical education department officials with the department heads of all medical colleges.

While the norms demand that the doctors must undergo one year of Senior Residency to be eligible to join the medical colleges as Assistant Professors, the National Medical Commission (NMC) in the recently released Draft Teachers Eligibility Qualifications (TEQ) 2024 Regulations, proposed providing an exemption to doctors having pursued their postgraduate medical education from five English-speaking countries (United Kingdom, United States of America, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand) to undergo the mandatory Senior Residentship to join as faculties in medical colleges.

Also Read: 1-year Senior residency exemption for Doctors with foreign PG medical qualifications- proposes NMC Draft TEQ