Despite lowering cut-off, 127 MD, MS seats remain vacant in Punjab

BABA FARID UNIVERSITY OF HEALTH SCIENCES TO HOLD ONLINE MOP-UP ROUND OF COUNSELLING FROM WEDNESDAY

FARIDKOT : Despite the cut-off being lowered by 25 percentile for each category for admissions to postgraduate courses, 127 seats of the doctor of medicine (MD) and master of surgery (MS) remained vacant after two rounds of counselling in seven medical colleges across Punjab.

Of the total 533 state quota seats of postgraduate (PG) and PG diploma courses in the state’s three government and four private medical colleges, 136 have been declared vacant by the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS), Faridkot, after two rounds of online counselling. The medical university will now hold an online mop-up round of counselling from Wednesday and a provisional allotment list of seats to aspirants will be displayed on November 16, said officials privy to the development.

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

The Union ministry has lowered the qualifying cut-off percentile for NEET-PG by 25 percentile for each category (general, SC, ST, OBC and handicapped). As many as 127 (25%) of a total of 504 MD/MS seats in these colleges were declared vacant. Also, five out of 36 diploma courses seats were declared vacant in four medical colleges, said officials. The total number of vacant MD/MS and diploma seats available for the mop-up round of counselling in government medical colleges at Patiala (19), Amritsar (14) and Faridkot (15) is 40. The number of such seats is 80 in four private medical colleges, Sri Guru Ram Das Medical College (SGRDMC), Amritsar (25); Dayanand Medical College (DMC) (11) and Christian Medical College (CMC) (24) at Ludhiana and Adesh Medical College, Bathinda (20). Besides, all three postgraduate diploma in sports medicine (PGDSM) seats at Netaji Subash National Institute of Sports, Patiala, are vacant. The BFUHS will hold a walk-in counselling for stray vacancy round for vacant seats, if any, after the mop-up round on November 23 on the university campus in Faridkot.