Regular counselling for service PGs will be held soon, says Health Minister

K.G. Arunraj | Photo Credit: S. SIVA SARAVANAN Health Minister K.G. Arunraj on Saturday said regular and transparent counselling will be conducted at the earliest for service postgraduates (PG), based on the Civil Medical List (CML) and seniority. The government is taking necessary steps to resolve issues in the counselling schedules and ensure it is conducted smoothly without any delay in the coming years, he said.He issued a statement regarding the temporary postings recently issued to service PGs who will complete their MD/MS courses in October 2026. The Hindu had reported in an article, ‘Service PGs get temporary postings without counselling’, that 800-odd service PGs had been issued temporary postings in institutions under the three health directorates without counselling and without following CML seniority.Dr. Arunraj said the COVID-19 pandemic caused significant delays in the academic and counselling schedules of medical courses in recent years. Last year, counselling for doctors who completed their PG courses in October was held in December. This led to complications in the disbursement of salaries for the intervening three months and other service-related procedures. It was keeping in mind the welfare of the service PGs that the government came up with the temporary postings as an immediate solution, so they are not affected by such issues. He said the temporary postings were allotted based on the top three choices of places specified by the doctors in the application forms. He said that the government would issue immediate guidelines to ensure that they receive salaries without any interruption starting from the first month of joining duty.Reiterating that this is only a temporary administrative arrangement, Dr. Arunraj said as per Government Order 131, all posts filled through these temporary postings would be notified in the upcoming counselling. Regular counselling would be held soon based on CML seniority, he added. Doctors who have received temporary postings can take part in the counselling without any hindrance and will be given the opportunity to choose their preferred posting based on their eligibility and seniority, he said.He said the temporary postings were allotted based on the top three choices of places specified by the doctors in the application forms. He said that the government would issue immediate guidelines to ensure that they receive salaries without any interruption starting from the first month of joining duty. Published - October 10, 2026 11:20 pm IST