Five medical colleges across India have been identified to allot one seat each this year for children of Covid-19 warriors. In November, Union health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan announced the centre’s decision to reserve five medical seats under the ‘Children of Covid Warriors (deceased)’ category.
In a notification dated December 5 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.
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The five seats will be reserved for candidates who cleared the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET-UG) exam held in September. Such students, states the notification, should apply for these seats through the respective Directorate of Medical Education/Directorate of Health Services (DHS) of their domicile states.
According to the notification, ‘Covid warriors’ refer to the definition by the ministry of health and family welfare 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.” This special quota is for children of those Covid warriors who lost their lives due to Covid-19 or died accidentally on account of Covid-related duty.
