The Supreme Court will on Monday take up a petition that urges the National Medical Commission (NMC) to put in place a concrete mechanism to ensure that postgraduate seats in pre-clinical and para-clinical disciplines do not go vacant across medical colleges in the country.
A bench led by Chief Justice B R Gavai, along with Justices K Vinod Chandran and N V Anjaria, is scheduled to hear the matter.
The petitioner has also asked the court to direct the NMC to furnish data on how many PG seats in these branches have remained unfilled over the past five years. The plea argues that vacant seats in foundational medical disciplines lead to long-term gaps in teaching faculty, ultimately affecting undergraduate and postgraduate training quality nationwide.
This is not the first time the court has raised concern over the issue. In January, while hearing a separate petition, the Supreme Court remarked that medical seats cannot be allowed to remain vacant and asked the Union government to convene a meeting with all stakeholders, including states, to devise corrective measures.
Earlier, in April 2023, the top court had flagged the problem of unfilled super-speciality seats. Following those observations, the Centre proposed the formation of a committee headed by the Director General of Health Services and comprising representatives from states and private medical colleges to address the issue.
The upcoming hearing is expected to revisit these broader concerns and examine whether systemic changes are needed to prevent seat wastage in critical postgraduate streams.
