With income ceiling, most in-service doctors remain ineligible for OBC quota PG medical seats

With the income certificate being mandatory for the allotment of Post Graduate (PG) medical courses seats to in-service doctors belonging to Other Backward Classes (OBC), a large number of seats are left vacant year after year. The vacant seats are being converted into non-in-service seats and allocated under the general merit quota.

Now, in-service doctors belonging to OBC category, who want to pursue PG medical courses, have urged that caste certificate be made the criterion for allotment of PG medical seats instead of income certificate.

In Karnataka, 30% of PG medical seats are reserved for in-service doctors in the State. The government is allocating seats to SC/ST candidates on the basis of caste certificate. Under OBC category, only those with an annual income of less than ₹8 lakh are eligible to get a PG medical seats. But as the annual income of in-service doctors is more than ₹8 lakh, going by their salary, they automatically become ineligible for the reserved seats.

Seats vacant

In 2024-25, out of the total 353 PG medical seats available for in-service doctors in the State, only 122 seats were filled, while 231 seats remained vacant. Later, these seats were converted into non-in-service quota seats. In 2023-24, out of the 315 in-service seats available, only 133 seats were filled, while 182 seats were converted into non-in-service seats. In 2022-23, out of the 279 seats available, 182 seats were filled, while 97 seats were converted into non-in-service seats.

Among the seats converted into non-in-service, a large number belong to the Health and Family Welfare Department.

Demand for rule change

“The annual income of several in-service doctors is more than ₹8 lakh. However, due to the income criterion of ₹8 lakh, OBC in-service doctors do not qualify, making the reservation meaningless. The government should drop the income certificate criterion in allocating PG medical seats to OBC candidates,” urged one of in-service doctor.

The doctors say there is a precedent for the government changing criteria. “Recently, the State government completed the process of filling the posts of principals of Government First Grade Colleges, and only the issuance of the work order is pending. In-service professors and assistant professors were allowed to apply for these posts. However, since the salaries of professors and assistant professors are high, the government amended rules and dropped the income certificate criterion for OBC candidates,” said a candicate, urging the government to adopt a similar policy for in-service doctors.

Delay in issuance of NOCs

Despite the document verification of PGNEET-2025 counselling being under progress, the Health and Family Welfare Department is delaying the issuance of No Objection Certificate (NOC) to in-service doctors who want to pursue Post Graduate (PG) medical courses in the State.

The Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) has allowed the registration for PG medical courses and conducting the document verification. As there is no communication from the Department of Health and Family Welfare (HFW) for in-service doctors to participate, the KEA has not allowed them for the document verification.

According to sources, the HFW needs specialists who have done PG courses in general medicine, general surgery, orthopaedics, paediatrics, and gynaecology to work in the government hospitals, but many in-service doctors are taking courses such as radiology, dermatology, and others. Therefore, the department has decided to formulate appropriate rules for selecting courses according to the specialist required and it has been learnt that there is a delay in issuing NOC.