HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court on Friday suspended the decision of the Medical Council of India (MCI), Telangana government and Kaloji Narayana Rao University of Health Sciences (KNRUHS) that permits government and private medical colleges to surrender PG diploma seats for which in-service candidates are given preference in the 2020-21 academic year.
A division bench, comprising Justices MS Ramachandra Rao and T Amarnath Goud, directed the authorities concerned to continue with the old practice of giving weightage to in-service candidates. It passed this order in a petition filed by an in-service doctor, P Bhavana, who was aspiring to become a PG diploma holder in medical radio diagnosis.
The bench observed that such a decision cannot be accepted because very few PG diploma seats are earmarked for in-service candidates and depriving them of the opportunity to upgrade their skills would adversely impact the public healthcare system. This policy of the MCI and the government only benefits private medical colleges and deprives the poor of the service of an efficient government doctor, it added.
The action of the MCI, government and KNRUHS is arbitrary and unreasonable, and violates Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution, the bench observed. “This court also takes judicial notice of the fact that recently the Telangana Admissions and Fee Regulatory Authority doubled the tuition fee for PG medical courses from `3.8 lakh per year to `7.6 lakh. It notified this in the last one week,” it said. While impleading the principals of Gandhi, Kakatiya, Kamineni, Pratima and MNR medical colleges as respondents to the case, the bench issued notices to the State, Centre and the university for filing their counter affidavits. It posted the matter to June 1.