PUDUCHERRY: Puducherry government is moving to enact a legislation reserving 50 percent MBBS seats in the three private medical colleges in the Union territory under government quota.
"A cabinet decision in this regard through the circulation of a file is being taken, following which a bill will be introduced in the coming Assembly session of the Legislative Assembly and then passed," said Health Minister Malladi Krishna Rao addressing a press conference on Friday.
At present, the three self-financing colleges of Pondicherry Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), Sri Manakular Vinayagar Medical College and Hospital (SMVMCH) and Sri Venkateswara Medical College and Research Centre (SVMCRC) are providing 34 to 35 per cent seats to government pool, through negotiations with the college management every year.
The negotiations yield enhancement of three to four seats only. "Now after the legislation, there would be no negotiations," said the minister.
The three colleges PIMS, SMVMCH and SVMCRC have a combined 450 MBBS seats, with 150 seats in each college. The enactment of legislation for 50 per cent government seats would mean that there would be 225 seats from the three colleges under government quota.
It may be noted that political parties cutting across lines as well as civil society activists have been urging the government to ensure 50 percent seats in private medical colleges are foiled up under government quota.
"With regard to the four Deemed-to-be institutions, namely Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute(MGMCRI), Arupadai Veedu Medical College (AVMC), Vinayaga Mission Medical College (VMMC) in Karaikal and Sri Lakshminarayana Institute of Medical Sciences (SLIMS), no legislation can be passed for reserving seats in these institutions as it is legally not tenable," said the minister.
Up to the year 2016, these institutions had been surrendering seats to the government pool after negotiating with them. "However after the Lt Governor Kiran Bedi’s intervention into the admission of students in these colleges, the four colleges stopped surrendering seats to the government from 2017," he said.
Puducherry government has been making efforts to make them provide seats to government quota once again through persuasion, but it has not materialized, he said and added that persuasion efforts will continue.