Baramulla, Dec 13 : Students of Government Medical College (GMC) Baramulla staged a protest on Friday, voicing strong opposition to the recent changes in the reservation policy and the reduction of open merit seats in NEET PG admissions.
The protesters called for the implementation of SRO 49 and the revocation of Rule 17, arguing that these changes jeopardize merit-based admissions and the future of deserving candidates.
The students criticized the implementation of SO 176 and SO 305, along with Rule 17 of the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Rules, which they claimed has drastically reduced the share of open merit seats. “Earlier, 75% of PG seats were available under SRO 49 of 2018 for open merit candidates. Now, this has dropped to just 27-30%,” explained a protester.
This year, only 78 of the 293 PG seats in government medical colleges were accessible to open merit candidates, a significant reduction.
One of the protesters described the situation as “sheer injustice,” saying, “It is disheartening to see candidates with ranks as low as 90,000 securing MD Radiology seats while those with ranks as high as 739 are denied the same opportunity. This undermines merit and demotivates hardworking students.”
The students also emphasized that disciplines like MD/MS require exceptional competence, and compromising on merit could have dire consequences for the quality of healthcare in the region.
In addition to restoring the open merit quota, the students demanded the introduction of a bond system for PG and DM courses in Jammu and Kashmir, similar to other states.
“A bond system will ensure that specialists serve in underserved areas, addressing healthcare inequalities,” one student said.
The protesters appealed to the Omar Abdullah-led government to revoke the recent changes, restore the open merit quota, and abolish Rule 17 to prevent double allocation of seats to reserved categories.
They stressed that these measures are vital to maintain fairness, meritocracy, and the overall quality of medical education in the region.
