Good News for Assam: MCI sanctions 174 more MBBS seats across 6 colleges in state
GUWAHATI | June 22, 2019:
An addition of 174 more seats has been sanctioned by the Medical Council of India (MCI) for MBBS courses in six medical colleges of Assam.
The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare had issued a notification on June 21 welcoming the new proposal of Medical Council of India (MCI) and directed the counselling authorities for filling up the MBBS seats under EWS quota as per rules in forthcoming academic year 2019-20. The total number of MBBS seats in the six medical colleges of the state will go up from 726 to 900, marking a 25% increase.
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A total of 726 MBBS seats were available till this year across the six medical
colleges in the state – Assam Medical College, Guwahati Medical College,
Silchar Medical College, Jorhat Medical College, Fakharuddin Ali Medical
College and Tezpur Medical College.
Assam director of Medical education, Anup Kumar Barman said that out of the total seats, 10% will be reserved for the general category students from the Economically Weaker Section (EWS).
"Each new medical college generally has 100 MBBS seats. So, 174 additional seats is almost like opening two new medical colleges in Assam," Barman added.
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He said, from this academic session itself, 10% of the seats will be reserved for EWS students. With MCI now sanctioning addition of MBBS seats, the number of seats for various other reserved categories will also proportionately increase.
Expressing his gratitude to Union health minister Harsh Vardhan for the decision, Assam health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the additional MBBS seats will be a major boost for medical courses in the state and will address the aspirations of many who wish to pursue medicine.
Happy to share~Medical Council of India has sanctioned 174 additional #MBBS seats under Economically Weaker Section quota for 6 medical colleges of Assam, taking total available seats to 900. Will address aspirations of many who wish to pursue medicine. Grateful @drharshvardhan
— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) June 21, 2019
Under the current set of norms, the selection of candidates for the MBBS course are done on the basis of the state merit list and the all-India merit list. The 85% state quota of MBBS seats are filled up through NEET-UG (state merit list) and counselling, while the remaining 15% seats are filled up through all-India counselling on the basis of NEET-UG (all-India merit list).
