On Tuesday, August 29, Telangana Health Department issued an order implementing a 10 per cent reservation for students from Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in paramedical courses. In the order, the secretary of Health, Medical and Family Welfare, SAM Rizvi asked Kaloji Narayana Rao University of Health Sciences (KNRUHS), for appropriate action to implement the reservation for students from EWS in the medical educational institutions, as stated in a report by The Siasat Daily.  

As per the issued order, a total of 69 seats in Bachelor in Physiotherapy (BPT), six seats in Master in Physiotherapy (MPT), 52 seats in MSc (Nursing) and 23 seats in Post Basic BSc (Nursing) will be reserved for students from EWS. This reservation will be implemented in MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery), AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy), BDS (Bachelor of Dental Surgery) and other allied courses.  

The decision comes in the wake of the success of last year’s decision to set aside a percentage of medical seats for the EWS category. Additionally, the Telangana government has also reserved 203 seats in MBBS and a total of 650 seats in all the allied health care courses, for students from the EWS category.
 

Further, speaking on this, State Health Minister T Harish Rao said, “Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao has given directions to ensure deserving students from economically backward sections are able to access seats in courses related to the health sector. This decision will help such students pursue paramedical courses.”