J&K Seeks To Defer AIQ participation of MBBS, MD/MS courses By One Year.

The ongoing tug of war between the medical department and J&K administration continues as LG Manoj Sinha promised to plead for a 1 year deferment on All India Quota participation.

Following days of protests by MBBS students of different colleges in the Kashmir valley and the Jammu province, Mr. Sinha met a delegation of NEET Post-Graduate MD/MS aspirants on Sunday and promised to “request the Central government to defer it for the current year”.

The L-G administration has made it clear that the pooling of seats to the AIQ will take place eventually, even if there may be a one-year deferment.

The aspirants, however, have expressed their disappointment over the outcome of the meeting with the Lt. Governor.

On Sunday, the official Twitter handle of LG Sinha tweeted: “Met NEET Post-Graduate MD/MS aspirants today. Listened to their concerns about UT’s participation in all India quota in the current year. Students sought more time for preparation. Considering their petition, I’ll request the central government to defer it for the current year.”

Dearth of facilities

“All the members [of the delegation], including the Director of the SKIMS Medical College, requested the L-G not to implement this policy. It will be catastrophic for the healthcare sector of Kashmir, which is highly dependent on the government sector. The aspiring doctors of Kashmir also will not be able to compete with the students from the rest of India due to the lack of facilities,” a PG student said.

He said there were fears that the SKIMS, being a deemed university, may lose all the seats to the AIQ and the Jammu and Kashmir’s government medical colleges will lose 50% of seats.

AIQ could create Doctor Patient Barrier

Students of GMC Doda said if doctors from other states come here, it would create a communication barrier between doctors and patient. “Doctors coming from outside know Hindi and English, however in J&K we have Kashmiri, Dogri, Gojri and Pahadi languages which could create a communication gap between doctors and patient”, a student was quoted as saying.