Mar 15 2017 : The Times of India (Chennai)

FOR A NEET TOSS - Pvt med univs in a fix over PG admissions

Pushpa Narayan

Chennai:





The validity of postgraduate medical admission for several doctors at deemed universities in Tamil Nadu seems to have become iffy after the Medical Council of India changed the rules in the middle of the admission season. On March 11, after many universities completed admissions based on NEET results declared on January 13, the MCI said it had made it mandatory for all admissions -undergraduate and postgraduate -to be done by the state government under a single window system.

On Tuesday , some like Sri Ramachandra University said they had halted admissions, while others like SRM Medical University and Saveetha University said ambiguity loomed over admissions already done.

After the National Board of Examinations, which conducted common entrance exams for PG admissions in December 2016, declared results in January , most private universities called for applications. “We received applications from across the country and put out a rank list based on NEET scores. We held counselling in a transparent manner for more than 70 PG and super-specialty seats as mandated by the Su preme Court,“ said Dr James Pandian, director (medical), SRM Medical University .

Most students said they were allowed to pay a partial fee that would be returned if they were admitted through government quota to colleges where tuition fee is sometimes 110th. At Saveetha University , where admissions were completed on February 23, students were allowed to pay 50% of tuition fee. “We are not sure our admissions will be recognized by MCI when the list of admitted students is submitted,“ said a doctor. The deadline for completing PG admissions is May 31.

The directorate of medical education, which until now admitted students to government and self-financing colleges based on Class XII marks, will now officially admit students to all colleges based on NEET. Selection committee secretary Dr G Selvarajan said his office has received a copy of the amendment to Post Graduate Medical Education Regulation, 2000, published by the gazette.

The state health department has sought clarification from the government on how counselling should be conducted for private colleges and universities. “As of now we don't know if they will apply 85% domiciliary quota and 69% rule of reservation,“ said Sri Ramachandra University vicechancellor Dr JSN Murthy .