Tamil Nadu to increase medical college seats in the state

The Tamil Nadu government has secured the permission to set up medical colleges in 11 districts, which will add 1,650 seats to the existing 3,400. Chief Minister K Palaniswami said that good healthcare facilities have made Tamil Nadu a medical destination.

Chennai:Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami on Monday said that the state has taken action to set up medical colleges in 11 districts so as to add 1,650 more medical course seats in the coming years.

Inaugurating a new 250-bed Fortis Healthcare Hospital here, Palaniswami said that the AIADMK government had secured permission to set up medical colleges in 11 districts, which will add 1,650 seats to the existing 3,400.

Palaniswami said the presence of government and private hospitals rendering advanced treatments has made Tamil Nadu as India's medical tourism state.

He said it was a matter of pride that when advanced countries with modern medical facilities were not able to manage Covid-19 pandemic, Indian doctors were able to contain it and save people. Palaniswami also listed various welfare schemes implemented by the state government.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court Monday rejected the interim prayer of Tamil Nadu and the AIADMK party for grant of 50 per cent quota in medical seats surrendered by the state in all India quota for undergraduate, postgraduate and dental courses for the 2020-21 academic year.

READ: SC rejects interim prayer of TN, AIADMK for 50 pc OBC quota in medical seats for 2020-21

The state govt has challenged the Madras High Court order of July 27 on the limited point by which it had cleared the decks for OBC reservation under All India Quota (AIQ) medical seats in non-central institutions and gave the Centre three months' time to take a decision on the percentage.

Tamil Nadu governor Banwarilal Purohit has been facing the wrath of political parties which will provide a 7.5 per cent reservation in medical colleges to students from government schools who have cleared the NEET examination. The opposition parties have demanded the resignation of the governor. Political parties see the governor's studied silence as a dilatory tactic to make the legislation redundant for the current academic year.

With agency inputs