NEET PG 2024: Srinagar Doctors Protest Against Reduction of Open Merit PG Medical Seats

Srinagar: Protesting against the reduction of Open Merit (OM) postgraduate medical seats, the doctors in Srinagar have urged the authorities to address their concerns by ensuring fairness in postgraduate admissions.

Several doctors gathered at the Government Medical College (GMC) campus in Srinagar on Tuesday and raised slogans in support of their demands. They also criticized Rule 17 of the reservation policy as "draconian and unique to J&K," Daily Excelsior has reported.

Emphasizing the need for maximum reservation in specialty courses like NEET PG, the protesting doctors argued that during MBBS, all students study under the same conditions, accessing identical resources including books, faculties, and libraries. According to the doctors, getting access to identical resources allows them to compete on merit. 

They also argued that exams like NEET PG, which is the entrance test for admission to specialty courses, need to prioritize merit to ensure that the best candidates are selected.

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As per the latest media report by Daily Excelsior, even though the SRO 49, which was issued on January 30, 2018m, allocated 75% of the seats to the Open Merit, this number was reduced to 40% by the amendments under SO 176, issued on March 15, 2024, and SO 305, issued on May 21, 2024. However, in reality, this quota effectively drops below 30% after applying the Horizontal Reservation and Rule 17.

Expressing their concerns over these recent changes in the reservation policies, the doctors gathered today at GMC Srinagar. Commenting on the issue, a doctor named Saqib told the Daily, "For NEET PG 2024, only 78-80 unreserved candidates secured seats out of 293 total seats in the state, a mere 27%, while the majority went to reserved categories."

Pointing out how this significant reduction has caused anxiety and frustration among the unreserved candidates, he added that the unreserved "view it as a blow to merit-based admissions."

Apart from protesting against the reduction of OM seats, the protestors also called for the removal of Rule 17 of the J & K Reservation Rules 2004-2005. They argued that the rule allows reserved category candidates who secure seats through Open Merit to claim an additional reserved seat upon upgrading to a higher specialty.

"The vacated OM seat does not revert to the OM category but is instead returned to the reserved pool, creating an imbalance and undermining the principle of merit-based selection," said a doctor.

Additionally, the doctors demanded the implementation of a three-year bond system for the PG and DM courses, as is practiced in other states, to ensure equitable service provision.

Further, the doctors also referred to the disparities in the NEET PG 2024 and pointed out that of the 293 seats in Government Colleges, Open Merit initially accounted for 113 seats (38.5%). They mentioned that after applying Rule 17 and Horizontal Reservation, OM seats were reduced to 78, making up only 26.6^ of the total.

The doctors also noted that seven out of 28 EWS seats were filled. However, 21 vacant seats intended for the OM pool were allocated for the reserved category instead.

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