Tamil Nadu to begin PG admissions on NEET scores

Pushpa Narayan

Chennai:





The Tamil Nadu directorate of medical education will soon call for applications to more than 2,000 postgraduate medical and dental seats for admission through counselling based on National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) scores. Counselling will be done by the selection committee in April for government college seats, management quota seats in private colleges and deemed universities.

If this happens, the state will have finally accepted common entrance for medical and dental admissions. State health department officials have been holding meetings to discuss legalities and the procedure.

In April 2016, the Supreme Court made admissions to medicaldental seats mandatory through NEET. Although Tamil Nadu has passed two bills seeking to exempt it from the test, they cannot become law without the President's approval. Union ministries of law, HRD and health will have to make rec ommendations for this.“We have not heard from them. PG admissions have to begin at least in April first week and end by May...We are yet to call for applications. We will wait for MBBS, but PG admissions must start now,“ said a senior official, requesting anonymity.

State health minister C Vijaya Baskar maintains they hope to get exemption for UG admissions though legal experts have warned it may not be easy this year.State selection committee secretary Dr G Selvarajan said: “We are still discussing the protocol for admis sion. There will be an announcement next week.“

Three prospectuses will be issued and three counselling sessions will be held between April and May, sources said.

`Only govt-held PG admissions valid'
Chennai:A few deemed universities in the state have completed admissions for postgraduate medical seats, but the Medical Council of India said admissions for 2017 will be valid only if made by the state or state appointed committee. MCI vice-president Dr C V Bhirmanandam said admissions for 2017 will be valid only if admissions are made by the state or state appointed committee. “If universities have already admitted students they won't be valid.There is enough time to reorganise things. We have told officials from universities and state governments the same thing,“ he told TOI. TNN