PANJIM: After several days of speculation over grant of permission to the 50 provisional seats at Goa Medical College’s (GMC), MBBS degree students may finally breathe easy after the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare listed on its website that permission for increase of seats has been approved by the Central Government.
The ministry’s website lists GMC for an increase in seats from 100 to 150 in its “List of colleges recommended by MCI for renewal of permissions in MBBS course for the academic year 2015-16 and approved by Central Government for issuance of letter for renewal of permission.”
Though GMC has not received any communication from either the ministry or the Medical Council of India (MCI), Dean Pradeep Naik said they were expecting official confirmation in a day or two.
“I have been informed of the update on the website though we haven’t got any official notice or letter from either the MCI or the ministry and are currently awaiting this. Once we get the permission, we will send notices to the Department of Technical Education to fill the additional 50 seats,” said Naik.
Earlier this week, parents and students were wary when news surfaced that GMC that for the last two academic years had admitted 150 students to the degree course had reduced the number of seats to 100. The
50 provisional seats given for the 2013-14 and 2014-15 academic years were given MCI approval however, this year the MCI had raised questions about the college’s infrastructure. GMC has said the additional infrastructure would be ready by August this year.
Indian Medical Association (IMA) secretary Dr K. K. Agarwal who visited the State on Thursday said, “When you need to extend a part of the college, the MCI has to give approvals and if you don’t have the infrastructure in place, you will obviously not get permissions. If you have everything in place, nothing should be the problem,” he said.
