Srinagar: This year, MBBS aspirants in Jammu and Kashmir will have 200 additional seats to compete for, with Government Medical College (GMC) Handwara and GMC Udhampur all set to admit their first batches. This year would be the first with nine GMCs operational in J&K, with a total seat pool of 1300.
The J&K Public Service Commission has been constantly filling the posts of faculty at these newly created medical colleges. In the past week, it has issued selection lists of Assistant Professors for various departments of GMCs of Handwara, Udhampur and some vacant positions in the five medical colleges established earlier. Director Coordination New GMCs, Dr Yashpal Sharma, while speaking to Greater Kashmir said the Letter of Permission (LoP) for 100 seats in each of the two new GMCs had been received earlier from the National Medical Commission. “The LoP was granted after the NMC was satisfied with the infrastructure and manpower at these campuses. We have adequate faculty on academic arrangement at the campuses,” he said.
Dr Sharma said that the cumulative intake capacity of seven new medical colleges would be 715. Aspirants will compete for nearly 1300 MBBS seats in all medical colleges of J&K, the highest ever seat pool. J&K will also have 15 percent of its MBBS seats for All-India Quota, a participation that started in 2022. The Health and Medical Education Department recently announced that the Government was working towards further enhancement of seats.
The Merit List of NEET UG would be available on the website of J&K Board of Professional Entrance Examinations soon, which would be followed by the process of participation in counseling.
GMC Udhampur and GMC Handwara were sanctioned for J&K in 2020 under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme to augment medical education in India. The two medical colleges have been allotted temporary campuses while work on permanent structures is underway.
In June 2019, Medical Council of India approved 400 additional seats for four new medical colleges in J&K – Baramulla, Anantnag, Rajouri and Kathua, while permission for GMC Doda was withheld due to deficiencies in minimum standards. The work on five new GMC had started in 2012.