5 medical colleges to allot seats to kin of deceased Covid warriors

Five medical colleges across India have been identified to allot one seat each this year, for children of Covid-19 warriors who died in the line of work. In November, Union minister for health and family welfare Dr Harsh Vardhan announced the Centre’s decision to reserve five medical seats under the ‘Children of Covid Warriors (deceased)’ category. “Nominations/applications have to be routed through the DME or DHS of the concerned state after scrutiny about their eligibility. The authorities will then forward such applications to Medical Council Committee (MCC) for allotment as per the NEET merit,” states the notification.

In a December-5 notification by the Directorate General of Health Sciences (DGHS), the five institutes include MGIMS Wardha in Maharashtra, Lady Hardinge Medical College in New Delhi, NSCB Medical College, Jabalpur, in Madhya Pradesh, JLN Medical College, Ajmer, in Rajasthan and Government Medical College, Haldwani, in Uttarakhand. The five seats will be available to candidates who cleared the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET-UG) exam held in September. Students can apply for these seats through the respective Directorate of Medical Education (DME) or Directorate of Health Services (DHS) of their domicile states.The ministry of health and family welfare defines Covid warriors as “public healthcare providers including community health workers, who may be in direct contact and care of Covid-19 patients and who may be at risk of being impacted by the same”.