DMK president and former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Friday (September 11, 2026) expressed shock over 1,857 super-speciality medical seats in India lying vacant and urged the immediate intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the issue.

Mr. Stalin, quoting a report published in , said in a post on X, “It is shocking that nearly 1,857 valuable super-speciality medical seats are lying vacant across the country simply because the Union government’s Director General of Health Services (DGHS) has not reduced the qualifying percentile. This includes 40 seats exclusively meant for in-service doctors in Tamil Nadu.”

“Yesterday, in the Tamil Nadu Medical Officers Association case, the Supreme Court directed that the percentile be reduced,” Mr. Stalin pointed out, urging the Prime Minister’s immediate intervention in the issue and for it to be reduced to zero percentile, as has been done in earlier years.

“The Union government must also allow States to independently reduce the percentile for their in-service quota when seats remain vacant. Public health is a constitutional responsibility of the States. Not a single medical seat, a precious national asset, should be allowed to go waste when our people need more specialist doctors,” he added.