BRS Rues Local Medical PG Seat Quota Cancellation

BRS leader and former minister T Harish Rao today expressed concern over the Supreme Court's ruling which removed the 50% local reservation quota for postgraduate (PG) medical seats.

According to Rao, the decision posed a significant threat to students from Telangana by depriving them of opportunities to pursue medical education, and could lead to a shortage of qualified medical professionals in the State.

Since the formation of Telangana State, the State had seen a remarkable transformation in its medical education sector, and during the regime of former Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, medical education had been prioritized with the establishment of a medical college in every district, the former minister said. The number of government medical colleges in the State had increased from just five to 34 by 2014, but as of 2025 Telangana ranked first in the nation with 19 MBBS seats per 100,000 people, and had climbed to second in the number of PG seats, with 2,924 PG seats available.

1,462 of the 2,924 PG seats were previously reserved for local students under the State's quota system, but the Supreme Court ruling would remove local reservations and transfer 100% of the seats to the national pool, and this move could shut out local students from pursuing postgraduate medical education in their home State, Rao said.

Rao also said that the ruling would also impact students in other southern States including Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh, which had long invested in medical education. "These States are home to some of India's most prestigious medical institutions, and have been instrumental in producing healthcare professionals who serve large populations. In Telangana each PG medical student serves an average of 12,799 individuals, and other southern States also have similarly high doctor-patient ratios due to state-specific medical education programs in addressing healthcare needs," he said.

He also recalled the Union Health Minister's statement that health was a State subject, and said that the State government funded medical colleges and PG stipends, and without local reservations, the considerable investments made by the State would fail to benefit local students, exacerbating the existing shortages of healthcare professionals.

The cancellation of State-specific reservations for SC, ST and BC categories could also disrupt medical services, especially in the underserved rural areas, he said.

The former minister urged the State government to take immediate action, and called on the government to pass a resolution in the Assembly in support of local reservations for PG medical seats and to approach a Constitutional bench of the Supreme Court.

He also called on Telangana's Union ministers and BJP MPs to exert pressure on the Union government to address the issue.

Rao also proposed that southern States collaborate to push for a constitutional amendment, if necessary, to safeguard the State-specific reservations and ensure that local students continued to have access to opportunities in medical education.