Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in Ranchi will get 30 new MBBS seats under reservation for Economically Weaker Section (EWS) from the 2019 academic session, a notification from the Medical Council of India (MCI) said. RIMS Director Dr. D K Singh received the notification through email on Saturday.
RIMS, the largest State-run hospital in Jharkhand, is the only medical college in the State to get extra seats under EWS. The number of seats in Patliputra Medical College Hospital (PMCH) in Dhanbad and Mahatma Gandhi Medical College Hospital (MGMCH) in Jamshedpur has not been increased yet. With the addition of new seats, the total number of seats for MBBS at RIMS will go up to 180 from the next academic session.
“I got the notification today (Saturday). RIMS is the only medical college in Jharkhand that has got these extra seats under EWS. Admissions for the next session will include reservation for students from the EWS category,” said Singh.
The MCI on Friday evening released a list of 116 medical colleges across India that will get extra seats to accommodate students from the EWS category. The list includes only one college from Jharkhand, which is the least among all the states in the country. On the other hand, at least 20 medical colleges in Maharashtra got extra seats for students from the EWS category, which is the highest in the country.
The increase in the number of seats was decided by the Board of Governors of the MCI at a meeting held in New Delhi recently. The MCI’s Board of Governors later forwarded their recommendation to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and got the ministry’s nod.
In January, just two months before the Lok Sabha elections, the Narendra Modi-led Government in the centre had passed a Constitutional Amendment reserving 10 per cent of seats in higher educational institutions and government jobs across India for people from the Economically Weaker Sections. This category was defined as those with an annual family income less than Rs 8 lakh, excluding those with agricultural land up to five acres and residential flats and plots of a certain size.
Since the announcement, several premiere medical, engineering and MBA colleges pointed out that the reservation could only be enforced if the total number of seats was increased.