In a big jolt to medical colleges in Andhra Pradesh, the Medical Council of India (MCI) has decided to halt granting anymore approvals for new medical colleges or to increase the seats in existing colleges for current academic year 2012-13.

However, keeping in view of the growing demand for medical seats in the state, the state government and private medical colleges are still lobbying with the MCI for additional seats.

Earlier, the MCI had granted an additional intake 650 MBBS seats for present academic year to all those medical colleges which have complied with the MCI norms within the stipulated deadline of June 30.

For the current academic year, the medical colleges in the state were expecting at least an additional grant of 1,000 MBBS seats from MCI. The total intake as on July 2, 2012 stands at 5,300 seats in 39 colleges. Of them, 1,950 seats are in 14 government colleges, and 3,350 seats in 25 private medical colleges. While the government is upset that the MCI has not approved its plans to increase 500 seats in 10 government medical colleges, the new private college to be set up by the Apollo Hospitals group is also in abeyance as it is yet to get an approval.

As the MBBS classes for the fresh batch are about to commence from August 1, the government and private colleges are still optimistic and hoping that the MCI will relent by then. The private medical colleges were more successful than government colleges in getting more seats. Of the 650 additional seats approved by the MCI, only 150 were in the government sector, and 500 in private colleges. The MCI approved 50 seats each in only three government colleges located in Kurnool, Visakhapatnam, and Vijayawada.

The private medical colleges which got an additional intake approved by MCI includes, Malla Reddy Institute of Medical Sciences located in Hyderabad and NRI Institute of Medical Sciences in Visakhapatnam. Both the colleges have secured approval for an additional intake of 150 seats from the MCI for this year. Besides, 50 seats were added in four private colleges located in Eluru, Guntoor, Vijayanagaram, and Mediciti Hospital in Hyderabad districts in the state. The new medical college to be set up by the Apollo Hospitals group is also expected to get approval within a week, adding another 100-150 seats.

The state government is still pursuing the case with the MCI to enhance the intake by 50 seats each in Osmania, Gandhi and Kakatiya medical colleges, which will add another 150 seats. Officials expect the MBBS seats to increase by another 300 (150 in private and 150 in government) within the next two weeks.

If additional seats are granted for the current academic year as per state government’s request, the total MBBS seats in Andhra Pradesh will increase by 5600 in about 40 medical colleges across the state.