Pursue all legal remedies to protect 50% in-service quota: TNMOA

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With the second round of all-India counselling for super speciality courses on hold and uncertainty looming over 152 super speciality seats reserved for in-service candidates remaining vacant in Tamil Nadu, the Tamil Nadu Medical Officers Association (TNMOA) has urged the State government to pursue all available legal remedies to protect the 50% in-service quota, a policy that has strengthened public healthcare for more than three decades.

In a press release, TNMOA’s general secretary M. Akilan said that the 50% reservation provided to government doctors in Tamil Nadu for higher speciality and super speciality medical courses was a “visionary social welfare measure” introduced in 1989 by then Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, intended to address the acute shortage of doctors in rural, hilly, tribal, and other underserved regions of the State.

The policy encouraged thousands of doctors to join the government service. Currently, more than 900 super speciality doctors serve in government hospitals across Tamil Nadu, the association said.

This year, while 152 seats in Tamil Nadu and 1,534 seats under the All India Quota (AIQ) remain vacant nationwide, the Medical Counselling Committee has postponed the next round of counselling without announcing a clear schedule. This development has raised serious concerns among government doctors and professional associations regarding potential attempts to transfer the State’s in-service quota seats to the AIQ. Additionally, based on litigation initiated by a private candidate, directions have been issued affecting the status of these 152 seats, TNMOA said.

It added that if these seats are diverted to the AIQ, candidates from outside the in-service system may occupy them. After completion of their mandatory bond period, many such candidates may leave the government service. This would undermine the fundamental objective of the policy, which is to create a permanent and sustainable specialist workforce within Tamil Nadu’s public health system. Th