Maharashtra borrows concept from Gujarat government on setting up new medical colleges

Updated on: Saturday, June 15, 2013

The medical education department, led by NCP leader Vijay Gavit, has borrowed a concept from the BJP-led Gujarat government on setting up new medical colleges. If he succeeds in his ambitious plan, then there will be no need to reserve seats for undergraduate and post-graduate courses under the all-India quota. All seats will be available for the sons of the soil.

After securing preliminary information, Gavit had deputed two senior professors, Mangesh Bankar and Sachin Mulgutkar, to study the Gujarat pattern of setting up new medical colleges.

"If the state government sets up a medical college, it is mandatory to reserve 15% of the undergraduate and 50% of the PG seats for the all-India quota. In the Gujarat pattern, the colleges are financed by the state government, but there is no need for reservation,'' a medical education department official said.

Elaborating on the concept, the official said, the Gujarat government had set up the Gujarat Medical Education and Research Society under which the new medical colleges were set up. "Since the colleges have been set up under the society, it was not binding on them to adhere to the all-India reservation. These were virtually private medical colleges, but controlled by a society set up by the state government. We are in the process of adopting the same concept, except for the fee structure. We have proposed that fees in government medical colleges and the new colleges to be set up under the society will be on a par," he said.

The official said once the proposal is accepted by the cabinet, the state government will constitute the Maharashtra medical education and research society. The proposed medical colleges in Mumbai, Baramati, Nandurbar, Alibaug, Satara, Chandrapur and Gondia, with an intake capacity of 100 undergraduate seats each, will be set up by the society.

"The cabinet has already decided to set up the seven medical colleges. With the setting up the society, all 700 seats will be available to the sons of the soil. In addition, all 300 PG seats in these colleges will also be available for local students,'' he said.

He said since the society will be autonomous, there will be no need to knock at the doors of the Maharashtra Public Service Commission for filling up of posts. "All powers of recruitment, promotion and transfer will be entrusted to the society and there will be minimum red-tapism," he said.

Maharashtra borrows concept from Gujarat government on setting up new medical colleges

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