Team Herald
PANJIM: With 200 seats for MBBS course, the Goa Medical College (GMC) capacity is full, Goa can get 150 more medical seats, if a new medical college comes up in the State, said GMC Dean Dr S M Bandekar.
Admission process for the 20 additional seats allocated to Goa last week by the National Medical Commission (NMC) commenced from Monday. In all, 17 of these seats are reserved for Goan students while three seats are reserved for candidates from across India.
“When I took over as GMC Dean in March 2019, there were 150 seats. It was then increased to 180 as 30 seats were allotted to students belonging to Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in 2021. These seats were also recognised.
Similarly, the post-graduate (PG) seats which were 90 have also been increased to more than 140 seats.
According to Dr Bandekar, the NMC do not grant more than 150 seats to any medical college. But Goa got a chance and it soon applied for more seats for undergraduate medical courses. But now no medical college across the country will be given 200 seats, he said adding if we want to increase seats then there is a need for another medical college, he opined.
As per NMC rule and GMC capacity, there is no chance to increase the seats. If another medical college comes in the State, then Goa will get 150 seats which will help students aspiring to become doctors.