As Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS) counseling comes to an end for admission to postgraduate medical and dental courses, there are no takers for 58% of the seats in non-clinical branches of the Doctor of Medicine (MD) courses.

After five rounds of counseling, it was concluded that 73 out of 126 seats remain vacant for non-clinical branches. For MDS, 7 seats are vacant and 2 seats are vacant for the PG diploma. The number of non-clinical seats that remained vacant are as follows: anatomy (15), followed by physiology (11), pharmacology (10), microbiology (10), biochemistry (9), and social medicine (7).

In Punjab’s 16 dental colleges, there are 1335 seats, out of which 240 are still vacant. This is the lowest vacancy figure since COVID.

In 2022, 80 MD non-clinical seats remained unoccupied after the completion of counseling for admission to PG courses. According to BFUHS officials, "Due to various factors, including job opportunities, there is less demand for non-clinical courses. The demand for microbiology had increased after COVID, but nowadays it has decreased again."

BFUHS held an 'extended stray vacancy' round on Wednesday after the results of four counseling rounds to fill the unoccupied seats in non-clinical MD courses. However, only three eligible candidates appeared for MD seats and one for the Master of Dental Surgery (MDS) seat.

According to experts, the response and demand for non-clinical courses, including anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, pharmacology, microbiology, and community medicine, have been decreasing in the medical field. One of the reasons students are not choosing non-clinical branches is that BSc and MSc courses are available in pharmacology, anatomy, physiology, and biochemistry. However, pathology is also a non-clinical branch and holds importance equal to biochemistry and microbiology. Many doctors opt for an MD in pathology as an MSc in the subject is not available.

(Input from various media sources)

(Rehash/ Komal Bhoi)