mumbai one arm of the state government apparently doesnt know what the other is doing while the medical education department med and the college of physicians and surgeons cps are embroiled in a dispute over admissions the public health department phd has gone ahead and recruited cps students for civil and district hospitals this weekthe medical education department has halted admissions to nearly 1100 cps seats over issues linked to its affiliated hospitals cps an autonomous body that offers twoyear postgraduate diploma courses in affiliated institutions including government hospitals corporationrun medical colleges and private hospitals has challenged this move in court the state has now sought the centres opinion on whether to conduct admissionsmeanwhile seemingly unaware of the conflict the public health department has filled 48 cps seats on wednesday the phd carried out the last round of selection and published the final merit list those who applied for these positions are required to confirm their decision by march 31a senior phd official told toi they had not received any official communication from the med or the centre regarding issues with cps and hence proceeded with the admissions of the 48 cps seats in the phd 50 are filled up by medical officers already working in government hospitals while the remaining has been taken by new candidates by paying an annual fee of rs 45lakhcps candidates qualify through the neetpg exam and are placed through counselling by the states med they work as resident doctors in these affiliated colleges which number around 170 however the phd official said they dont follow the meds counselling schedulethe recruitment of cps students by the public health department despite the ongoing conflict underscores the lack of coordination and communication among different branches of the government said a senior doctor the cps controversy revolves around concerns about the teaching quality in its affiliated hospitals the med has stalled admissions due to these concernsanother phd official said cps candidates work at district civil and womens hospitals and over 500 candidates apply for the limited seats we have been taking cps candidates since 2015 to boost manpower in district and rural hospitals said the officialcourses offered through staterun hospitals include diplomas in gynaecology and obstetrics tropical medicine and health orthopaedics ophthalmic medicine and surgery on completion of a 2year diploma candidates also have to serve a oneyear bond