BMJ  2006;332:1291 (3 June), doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7553.1291-a

News

India will expand number of medical school places after protests

New Delhi

The Indian government has announced additional places in medical colleges funded by the central government after widespread protests against its proposal to reserve more places in higher education institutions for students from lower castes.

In April the government set out plans to increase the proportion of college places reserved for students from socially deprived castes from the existing 22.5% to 49.5%, beginning in the 2007 academic year (2006;332:931, 22 Apr). The policy is an attempt to bolster a decades old affirmative action policy.

However, students, staff members, and the Indian Medical Association are campaigning against the increase in reservations, which will apply to both undergraduate and postgraduate courses. In response to litigation challenging the proposals, the Indian Supreme Court on Monday asked the government to justify its more than doubling of the percentage of reserved places.

"We want the government to review the existing reservation policy and examine other options for affirmative action," said Vinod Patro, president of the Resident Doctors' Association at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, where the annual intake in the undergraduate bachelor of medicine and surgery course will be raised from 50 to 90.

The month long protests have been marked by hunger strikes, mass leave applications, and closure of hospitals' outpatient services.

They have generated support among the general public, but doctors fear that no political party is willing to support a stand that could lose it votes.

The government said last Sunday that the capacity of several colleges will be raised by 50 per cent by next year so that the number of places for the non-reserved, general category of students remains unchanged. However, many doctors are concerned whether this can be done in a year.

The proposal has also exposed divisions within the medical community.

Some doctors are in favour of more places for people from low castes, arguing that this would counter the sale of places to students by private medical colleges in some southern states.

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