PANAJI: Goa Medical College (GMC) has received about 20,000 applications in response to the over 1,000 jobs advertised by the tertiary hospital earlier this month. The last date for receiving applications will be extended by ten days.

An official said the extension will be made public in the next two days. “Applications will be accepted till September 30,” he said.

GMC had advertised several posts of nurses, multi-task workers, technicians and clerks.

The official, who expects to receive more application with the extension, said that the huge response only served to indicate the level of unemployment in the state. “Also, people prefer government jobs thanks to better pay scales, and security,” he said.

GMC made the job application forms available online after its decision to physically distribute them to potential candidates at a single point — the hospital’s office at Bambolim — snowballed into a huge controversy. Initially health minister Vishwajit Rane had refused to make forms available online.

Soon after GMC advertised the posts, chief minister Pramod Sawant issued a directive to all departments stating that with the Goa Staff Selection Commission Bill being passed, all hiring to Category ‘C’ will henceforth be done through the Staff Selection Commission.

This had led to some confusion over the GMC posts as it appeared that the recruitment process would have to be withdrawn, another official linked to the public health department said.

However, he said that so far they have not seen anything concrete on paper, which can delay the ongoing recruitment process.