Chennai: Postgraduate Admissions at Government Unani Medical College

The first batch of postgraduate students have been admitted into the 44-year-old Government Unani Medical College in Chennai on Wednesday, April 12.

The allotment orders were given to seven students by the Tamil Nadu health minister Ma Subramanian. Six of them have been appointed through state quota and one through the all-India quota.

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The health minister said, "After 15 years of struggle, TN has managed to convince the central council for Indian medicine to grant us permission to start post-graduate courses in Unani. We have been approved for seven seats in two courses - general medicine and regimental therapy."

Many students from the state had to travel to the nearby states like Karnataka or Telangana to complete their postgraduate courses due to the absence of such a course in Tamil Nadu, according to a media report in the Times of India.

The state has only one Unani medical college, which has an intake capacity of 60 seats, however, the college was having a difficult time finding the required faculty as it was mandatory for them to complete postgraduate degree to become a teaching faculty.

The minister said, "Women had to leave behind their family including young children for higher studies." The department of Indian medicine is reportedly planning to apply for more post-graduate seats. Further, he said, "The unani hospital for Covid patients in Vaniyambadi was received very well by patients."

The Government Unani Medical College in Chennai was established in 1979, and is affiliated with the Dr.M.G.R. Medical University. The annual intake of students increased from 26 to 60 in 2016. It began by offering UG admission in Bachelor of Unani Medicine and Surgery.

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