82 MD, MS seats still vacant in Punjab medical colleges

10 MASTER OF DENTAL SURGERY SEATS ARE ALSO AVAILABLE

FARIDKOT: Eighty two seats of doctor of medicine (MD) and master of surgery (MS) courses at seven medical colleges in Punjab, including three run by the government, were left vacant after all rounds of counselling ended on Thursday.

Of the total 544 state quota seats of postgraduate (PG) and PG diploma courses in three government and four private medical colleges, 102 were declared vacant by the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS), Faridkot, after three rounds of online counselling, including the mop-up round.

The university conducted stray vacancy round (physical round) on Thursday, but managed to fill only eight out of 90 vacant MD and MS seats, while just two eligible candidates appeared for 12 vacant MDS seats.

Facing a shortage of eligible candidates to fill vacant postgraduate medical seats, BFUHS had lowered the minimum qualifying marks and percentile for admission following directions of the Union ministry of health and family welfare.

Despite the cut-off being lowered by 25 percentile for each category for admissions to postgraduate courses, 82 MD and MS seats remained vacant after four rounds of counselling. Ten MDS seats are also vacant at the Punjab’s dental colleges. Also, two out of 36 diploma courses seats were declared vacant in four medical colleges, officials said.

BFUHS registrar Dr Nirmal Ouseppachan said some PG courses seats have remained vacant after the scheduled counselling process ended. “So far, there is no extension in the schedule, so counselling will end with the stray round,” he added.