253 more medical PG seats

 In a move which will fulfil the dreams of local graduates in medicine to do their post-graduation (PG) in Gujarat, as many as 253 PG seats have been approved by the Medical Council of India (MCI) for medical colleges run by the state government.
The sanction has been granted by MCI without any scrutiny and based on the new formula that two PG seats will be allowed for each professor that a college has. So far, the student-professor ratio was 1:1. MCI chairman Dr Ketan Desai told TOI that private medical colleges will be allowed more PG seats only after scrutiny of the list of professors. The move takes the total PG seats in Gujarat to 783. "We have decided to give immediate sanction to government colleges so that admissions can begin for the term starting May 2010," he said.
Dr Desai said the number of PG seats sanctioned in Gujarat was significant as the MCI has sanctioned 1,560 seats in the country so far. The move will bridge the wide gap between the requirement of specialists for quality medical treatment in the country. This will help MBBS graduates in Gujarat who were forced to go to other states and spend between Rs 30 to Rs 50 lakh in two years to get a PG degree from a private college. States like Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu used to bag most students from Gujarat. Often, these were sons and daughters of successful doctors who want them to carry on the family's nursing home, clinic or hospital. "Gujarat is becoming a medical hub and it requires much more manpower to provide the services," said Dr Jitu Patel, president of Gujarat unit of Indian Medical Association.