Amaravati: The Andhra Pradesh government has finalised the reservation quota for government doctors in postgraduate (PG) medical courses for the 2025-26 academic year.

Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu has approved the proposal from the Medical and Health Department.

The decision was based on an assessment of the State’s need for clinical and non-clinical specialists in government hospitals by 2028-29, as well as the career aspirations of doctors working in Primary Health Centres (PHCs).

The government has allocated a 15 per cent reservation for PHC doctors in seven clinical subjects: General Medicine, General Surgery, Pediatrics, Gynaecology, Anesthesia, Emergency Medicine, and Radiology. These seven courses are part of a total of 17 courses, available for PG admissions.

A 30 per cent reservation has been set for PHC doctors in nine non-clinical courses, which include Hospital Administration, Biochemistry, Anatomy, Physiology, Forensic Medicine, Microbiology, Pathology and Social & Preventive Medicine.

Minister for Medical and Health, Satya Kumar Yadav, stated that the decision was made with the aspirations of the 2,288 doctors serving in the State’s 1,144 PHCs in mind.

A six-member high-level committee, headed by the ministry’s secretary, assessed the future need for specialists and recommended the reservation quotas. The Minister noted that the government has provided more reservations than the assessed requirements to encourage government doctors to pursue higher education.

Under the government quota (50 per cent of seats) in both government and private medical colleges, a total of 272 seats will be available for PHC doctors.

This includes 154 seats in the seven clinical subjects and 118 seats in the nine non-clinical subjects.

A significant change has also been implemented regarding counseling.

Unlike previous years where leftover seats were released after the second round, this year, the government has agreed to keep the reserved seats available for government doctors until the third round of counseling is completed.

Government doctors with at least three years of service in a PHC are eligible to apply for these reserved seats. For the 2024-25 academic year, 312 government doctors secured admission to PG medical courses.