Stalin seeks PM's intervention as 1,857 super-speciality medical seats lie vacant
M.K. Stalin has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene after 1,857 super-speciality medical seats, including 40 in Tamil Nadu, were left vacant.
DMK president and former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Friday raised concern over 1,857 super-speciality medical seats remaining unfilled across the country and sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi's intervention to resolve the matter.
In a post on X, Mr. Stalin attributed the vacancies to the Union government's Director General of Health Services (DGHS) not lowering the qualifying percentile. He noted that the unused seats include 40 reserved for in-service doctors in Tamil Nadu.
He pointed to a Supreme Court direction issued a day earlier in a case involving the Tamil Nadu Medical Officers Association, which called for the percentile to be reduced. Mr. Stalin urged that it be brought down to zero percentile, as had been done in previous years.
He further asked the Union government to permit States to independently lower the percentile for their in-service quota whenever seats remain unfilled, arguing that public health is a constitutional responsibility of the States.
Describing medical seats as a precious national asset, he said none should be allowed to go to waste at a time when the country needs more specialist doctors.