Most docs with disabilities denied seats in AIIMS

Most docs with disabilities denied seats in AIIMS

Handful Who’ve Got Admission Were Mostly Given Non-clinical Subjects Which Have Few Takers

Rema.Nagarajan@timesgroup.com

15.08.2021

Year after year, the bulk of MBBS doctors with disabilities who clear the post graduate entrance exam for seven All India Institutes of Medical Sciences including the one in Delhi are denied admission. Barely 0.4% of seats over the last three years have been given to them despite the disability rights law of 2016 stipulating a 5% reservation.

Even the handful who have got admission were mostly given non-clinical subjects which have few takers. Out of over 4,000 PG seats in the various AIIMS from 2018 onwards, 200 should have gone to those with disabilities if the 5% quota was implemented. Instead, 17 have been given to them.

From 2021 onwards, the combined entrance exam, Institutes of National Importance Common Entrance Test (INICET) is also for admission to PGI Chandigarh, Jipmer Pondicherry and Nimhans Bangalore.

The seat matrix for January 2021 INCET shows that 27 seats were reserved for persons with disabilities out of a total of 684 PG seats in all seven AIIMS combined, barely 4%. Though 38 doctors with disabilities are shown in the list of candidates who qualified, not a single one was allotted a seat. In the July 2021 INICET, out of 536 PG seats in all the AIIMS, 26 have been reserved for doctors with disabilities but in the mock round of allotment, not a single seat has been allotted. The results of the next round will be out on August 16 and the remaining rounds will be completed within 30 days after that.

“As per current data, a total of 35 persons with benchmark disabilities (PWBD) candidates have qualified for seat allocation. Seventeen out of 31 opted for AIIMS as first preference and 15 opted for AIIMS as second preference. In the mock round, the choices filled by the candidates were not available at AIIMS and hence no seat was allocated at AIIMS. This may change in the subsequent rounds,” said Dr Randeep Guleria, director of AIIMS, Delhi. However, a candidate with disability said that usually, there wasn’t much change from the mock allotment.

Dr Guleria added that allotment depended on the order of merit of the candidates and preferences filled by them and that they were allocated the highest available seat from among their preferences according to order of merit.

“Unlike seats reserved for OBC, SC and ST, which are shown branch or specialty wise in the seat matrix issued, for doctors with disabilities, they just give the total number of seats without a break up of which specialties these seats are available in. So, candidates with disabilities are forced to choose blindly not knowing what specialties are open to them. This is the reason for such a huge number of candidates being rejected on the basis of FCNA or filled choice not available,” said a doctor with disability.

Full report on www.toi.in

Out of over 4,000 PG seats in the various AIIMS from 2018 onwards, 200 should have gone to those with disabilities if the 5% quota was implemented. Instead, 17 have been given to them