Telangana students to lose PG medical seat quota after SC ruling

Supreme Court’s judgment declaring domicile-based reservations in PG medical seats as ‘impermissible’ also means that students from Telangana will lose all such reservations within the State

Hyderabad: Meritorious students from Telangana are set to lose their domicile-based reservations in Post Graduate (PG) medical seats from the next academic year. The change will allow students from other States who have completed MBBS in Telangana to compete for super-specialty medical seats under the Competent Authority in Telangana.

The Supreme Court’s judgment on Wednesday declaring domicile-based reservations in PG medical seats as ‘impermissible’ also means that students from Telangana will lose all such reservations within the State.

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A large number of students, public health experts and individuals closely following medical education said the apex court’s judgment would be unfair to native students, who have pursued MBBS elsewhere, while others argue that this will only open up opportunities for meritorious students from across India.

The Supreme Court’s judgment has also elicited arguments that South Indian States, with highly evolved medical education and a higher number of PG medical seats, will struggle to maintain quality healthcare without the domicile reservation.

“Isn’t it unfair to deny a candidate an opportunity in their native State, where they were born and raised, just because they completed their MBBS in another State? How is it equitable to grant State quota benefits to students who have resided in the State only for 5 years and at the same time deny benefits to domiciled students?” asks Dr Sunil T, a Nalgonda native who did his MBBS in Karnataka.

Aravind Varier, well-known for his data analysis on platform X (@VarierAravind) said: “It would be difficult for the South Indian States to maintain the quality of healthcare without domicile reservation for PG medical seats”.

There are others who also fear that not many Telangana-born students will be able to get PG medical seats.

“Telangana students will lose all reservations in State quota in PG medical seats in Telangana. We have 33 government medical colleges in Telangana, one for every district, established under former Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao. There should be some way to save our education system’s independence. Our government has spent a lot of money to start and maintain these institutions,” Komandla Abhiram Rao, a student, said.