EWS Quota for Medical Colleges: Government Approves Implementation in All Medical Colleges!
Following the directives of the National Medical Commission (NMC), this reservation will come into effect this year. The plan includes reserving 10 percent of all seats in government medical colleges and half of the convener quota seats in private medical colleges (excluding minority colleges) for EWS. Officials have confirmed that the government has given in-principle approval to the proposal from the state medical and health department.
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Current Implementation:
Currently, only seven government medical colleges in the state are implementing EWS reservation as per NMC's permission. These colleges include:
- Gandhi Medical College, Hyderabad
- ESI Medical College, Hyderabad
- Mahbubnagar Medical College
- Nizamabad Medical College
- Siddipet Medical College
- Kakatiya Medical College, Warangal
- Rajiv Gandhi Medical College, Adilabad
Last year, 103 MBBS seats were allocated to economically weaker sections in these colleges.
Future Expansion:
If EWS reservation is extended to all medical colleges, it is estimated that up to 350 additional MBBS seats will be available for economically weaker upper-caste students. However, this needs full clarification. Medical department sources indicate that orders for EWS reservation will be issued before the admission notification, after the NEET entrance exam results are released.
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Impact on General Quota Seats:
Currently, there are 8,490 MBBS seats across 56 medical colleges in the state, including 3,790 seats in 27 government colleges and 4,700 seats in 29 private colleges. Until now, the NMC has not increased the number of seats to accommodate the 10 percent EWS reservation, meaning the general category quota will not be reduced for other reserved categories.
However, the NMC has recently ordered that EWS reservation should be implemented within the existing seat structure, without additional seats being granted. This means general category seats will be reallocated to EWS, which could potentially reduce the seats available to BC, SC, and ST students based on merit, causing concern among these groups.
Income Criteria:
To qualify for EWS reservation, the applicant's family income should be less than Rs.8 lakhs per annum. The revenue department has been instructed to issue income verification documents accordingly. Students will need to present these documents to avail of the EWS reservation.
This implementation aims to ensure that economically weaker sections receive adequate representation in medical education while balancing the interests of other reserved categories.