There is no provision for reservation to Super Speciality courses in medical institutions across the country, the Health ministry informed the Parliament today. Super Speciality courses include courses like Doctor of Medicine (DM) and Master of Chirurgiae (Mch) being run in the medical institutions.
However, the junior health minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey told the Rajya Sabha today while responding to questions regarding reservation in medical admissions that the Central government reservation policy is followed by all the Central Government institutions.
"The reservation policy is also applicable for admission for medical courses under the National Medical Commission Act, 2019," he said.
Admission to Super Speciality courses are conducted through National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test - Super Specialty or NEET-SS, which is a single window entrance examination for entry to DM or MCh or PDCC courses.
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According to a 2017 notification by the Health ministry, no other examination either at state level or institutional level entrance examination conducted by any University or medical colleges or institutions shall be valid as per the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 with effect from 2017 admission session.
In 2015 October, the Supreme Court had reinforced its earlier view that "there should really be no reservation" in super speciality courses in medicine in the general interest of the country.
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The top court also echoed with the observation made in other judgements that "the Centre and the State Governments shall seriously consider this aspect of the matter without delay and appropriate guidelines shall be evolved by the Indian Medical Council so as to keep the Super Specialities in medical education unreserved, open and free."
It said at a time when the 'privilege' of reservation is 'competing with eternity' an objective assessment of situation is required keeping national interest in mind.
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"The fond hope has remained in the sphere of hope though there has been a progressive change. The said privilege remains unchanged, as if to compete with eternity.
"Therefore, we echo the same feeling and reiterate the aspirations of others so that authorities can objectively assess and approach the situation so that the national interest can become paramount. We do not intend to add anything in this regard," a bench of Justices Dipak Misra and PC Pant said then.
The observations came while hearing a batch of appeals challenging the domicile based reservations in super speciality medical courses in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu.
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