With 141 of the 215 super-speciality medical seats allocated for service candidates remaining vacant after the first round of counselling in Tamil Nadu, there are apprehensions that any lapse by the State authorities will lead to a large number of speciality seats going unfilled, as seen last year.
A section of senior doctors are cautioning that super-speciality seats falling vacant year after year will impact the State’s government healthcare services in the long run. It will result in a dip in the number of government doctors in certain essential super specialities such as neurosurgery, nephrology, cardiothoracic surgery, vascular surgery and surgical gastroenterology, thereby affecting patient care. Out of the total 422 DM/MCh seats, 215 seats are allocated to in-service reservation as Tamil Nadu reserves 50% of its super speciality seats for in-service candidates.
A specialist said that among the 74 were 10 seats each in surgical oncology and surgical gastroenterology, while a large number of seats in specialities such as Cardio Thoracic Surgery, Neuro Surgery, Plastic Surgery, Vascular Surgery and Urology remained vacant. Among the reasons for service candidates not preferring to pursue some specialities are low salaries in the government sector and reduction in posts in the past.
