TN Doctors Upset with Health Dept's Decision of Withholding In-Service Quota in Certain Specialties

Chennai: The State Health Department's recent decision to withhold in-service reservation of seats in certain postgraduate medical courses for the academic year 2024-2025 has upset a section of government doctors.

Referring to the previous legal battle regarding the in-service quota and how the Court upheld the reservation policy, the doctors have argued that diluting the reservation now was objectionable.

The reaction from the doctors has come after the Health Department issued a Government Order on July 1 and stated that it would decide henceforth regarding the number of seats to be reserved for them on a year-on-year basis.

As per the G.O., the number of seats reserved in Postgraduate (MD/MS) admissions for the in-service candidates will be decided dynamically on a year-on-year basis. 

The Health Department further stated in the order that for the academic year 2024-2025, the service reservation of PG seats for specialities other than General Medicine, General Surgery, Paediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Orthopaedics, Anaesthesiology, Chest Medicine, Radiology, Community Medicine and Forensic Medicine will be kept in abeyance for a year.

Also Read: Don't allot 50 Percent seats In Super-Speciality Courses at TN Medical Colleges: Madras HC Tells Centre

Consequently, the service quota for these above-mentioned specialties will be reviewed based on the situation for the next academic year. As per the latest media report by The Hindu, the Health Department has cited the saturation of vacancies as the reason for this recent decision regarding the in-service quota.

This Government Order has been vehemently opposed by the Tamil Nadu Medical Officers’ Association (TNMOA) and the Service Doctors’ and Post Graduates’ Association (SDPGA). As per TNMOA, the Government's new decision has diluted the in-service reservation. The association questioned that if the State's real concern was regarding the saturation of the postings, why did not it consider creating new posts for accommodating the service candidates to ensure the availability of many specialists for the patients? TNMOA has opined that the 50% in-service reservation was the basic foundation based on which the public health infrastructure in Tamil Nadu was built. 

Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu Government Doctors' Association (TNGDA) has opined that this order should have been implemented in a phased and scientific manner.

The association highlighted that the Supreme Court judgment in the case of TNMOA Vs. Union of India stated that the States had the right to provide a separate entry channel to in-service candidates. The Secretary of TNMOA, M. Akilan reiterated their demands for a legislation to provide 50% service reservation to protect the rights of doctors.

Referring to the Government Order, the association opined that the Government's decision was against the rights of government doctors. It pointed out that as per the National Medical Commission's rules regarding the Minimum Standard of requirements 2023, the Government required to sanction around 100 new faculty posts for each non-clinical specialty and ENT, Ophthalmology, Dermatology, and Psychiatry. 

Therefore, it was not right to keep these PG seats out of the service quota as this could lead to a shortage of the faculties and consequently the colleges will face difficulty in getting recognition from the Commission, opined the Commission.