Post graduate medical seats in Tamil Nadu witnessed a record high from 1,250 in 2018-2019 to 1,758 in 2019-2020, following the Medical Council of India's decision to convert diploma seats. An additional sanction of 124 post graduate degrees have also been made for the academic year between 2019 and 2020. While the state originally had 1250 postgraduate medical seats up for grabs in 2018- 2019, it had requested an additional 124 seats. These seats were subsequently sanctioned by the Medical Council of India in two phases. With the conversion of 384 postgraduate diploma programmes to full time postgraduate seats, the total number of postgraduate medical seats is at 1,758.
According to one report in The New Indian Express, the six colleges where the diploma seats underwent conversion include: Madras Medical College where the number of seats have now risen to 433, Stanley Medical College to 204, Kilpauk Medical College to 121, Madurai Medical College to 184, Thanjavur Medical College to 102 and Coimbatore Medical College to 33.
Speaking to the newspaper, Dr A Edwin Joe, Director of Medical Education said that the move also made the Madras Medical College, Chennai the college with the most number of postgraduate degree seats - from 250 to 433 - doubling the number of its undergraduate seats.
According to the Director of Medical Education, Tamil Nadu has additionally applied for a further sanction of 350 undergraduate MBBS seats for the academic year between 2019 and 2020. While Tamil Nadu has highest number of state-run medical colleges in the country, proposals for medical colleges in Perambalur and Ramanathapuram districts are pending.