Supreme Court relief to in-service doctors with Telangana domicile

Hyderabad: Granting relief to the in-service doctors with Telangana domicile, who completed their MBBS outside the State, the Supreme Court has issued an interim order and granted them permission for admission to postgraduate medical education courses in the State under the in-service category.

During the hearing of the case, the counsel for the in-service doctors, Advocate Sriram, argued before the Court that even though these in-service doctors had completed MBBS outside Telangana due to circumstances prevailing in the erstwhile united Andhra Pradesh, they later returned to serve as contract doctors in Telangana for a prolonged period.

These doctors subsequently joined regular government service based on their Telangana domicile, and they have been serving the people of Telangana for six to ten years.

Referring to this, the counsel argued that these in-service doctors deserved to be held eligible to pursue postgraduate medical education under the in-service category.

Also Read: Over 4000 Andhra MBBS Graduates who Studied in Telangana Become Ineligible for PG medical counselling

As per the latest media report by Deccan Chronicle, after hearing the arguments, the Supreme Court judge granted relief to the in-service doctors and directed the legal representatives of the Telangana State government, advocates Shankar Narayana and Shravan Kumar Karanam, to immediately facilitate admission opportunities for these candidates in the postgraduate courses.

In turn, the legal representatives of the Government expressed their willingness to comply with the order and assured the Apex Court that the State would ensure the eligibility of Telangana in-service doctors for PG admissions.

After the Supreme Court's order, the in-service candidates in Telangana expressed their joy at the favourable judgment and extended gratitude to the Telangana Government for their positive response. They also thanked the State Health Minister Damodar Rajanarasimha for taking a proactive role in addressing their concerns.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that due to the recent changes in the residency rules, introduced by the Telangana Government, around 4,000 medical students from Andhra Pradesh who studied MBBS in Telangana were facing uncertainty regarding their future.

Issuing a new Government Order (GO) 148, the Telangana Government redefined local eligibility criteria for postgraduate (PG) medical admissions. As a result of these recently introduced changes, these non-local MBBS students have now become disqualified for PG medical counselling in the State. Therefore, these students were neither recognised as locals in their home States, nor in the State where studied MBBS. They were non-locals in all States.

They were urging the State Government to introduce a grace period for those who started their MBBS course before 2024, allowing them eligibility for PG counselling under previous rules.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is also considering the issue of whether a permanent resident of Telangana required to study in the State for 4 continuous years to get admitted to MBBS or BDS courses in the domicile quota seats.

Although recently the Telangana High Court held that permanent residents of the State did not need to study in Telangana for 4 continuous years for MBBS and BDS admission in the domicile quota seats, the State has challenged the order before the Apex Court bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justices JP Pardiwala and Manoj Misra.

Also Read: Telangana Local Quota in Medical Colleges- Supreme Court to Consider Matter