You can’t score less and join foreign medical colleges: HC

Legal Correspondent

CHENNAI, SEPTEMBER 22, 2018 00:00 IST




Only meritorious students should be allowed to enter any medical college, says the High Court. (Picture used for representational purpose only) 

Wants MCI to insist on scoring 75 to 80% in Plus Two besides clearing NEET

The Madras High Court has asked Medical Council of India (MCI) to spell out minimum marks that had been prescribed by it for issuing eligibility certificates to Indian students wanting to join medical courses in foreign colleges. The court wanted to know if any changes had been effected after the introduction of National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET).

Substandard doctors

Justice N. Kirubakaran directed the counsel for MCI to get instructions on the subject by Monday. He said students who scored at least 75 to 80% marks in Plus Two alone should be allowed to pursue medicine in foreign institutions.

“Otherwise, children of moneyed people will easily obtain medical degrees and people will end up getting substandard doctors,” he said.

The judge was hearing a writ petition filed by a youth who had obtained a medical degree from a university in West Indies and had approached the court seeking a direction to Tamil Nadu Medical Council to register his name so that he could undergo Compulsory Rotatory Residential Internship (CRRI) in any approved medical college hospital in the State.

On a perusal of the petitioner’s marks in Plus Two examinations, the judge found that he had scored far below what would be required to gain admissions in a medical college within the country. He wondered how students, who were ineligible to gain admission in a domestic institution, could be allowed to obtain the same degree from a foreign university.

The judge also recalled that in an interim order passed last year, he had observed that “only meritorious students should be allowed to enter any medical colleges as the life of the patients/citizens are with the prospective doctors. This court cannot take risk with regard to public health as it would go against the interest of the society.”

Then, the MCI was suo motu included as a respondent to the case and details were called for regarding procedures adopted by it to grant eligibility certificates to join foreign medical colleges. Thereafter, the court was told that before introduction of NEET, just 50% marks in Plus Two were sufficient to join a foreign medical institution.

After NEET came into force, it had been mandatory to clear it even for securing a medical seat in a foreign country. The MCI had issued a notification on March 1 this year amending the regulations governing the issue. The procedure of issuing eligibility certificates was dispensed with and clearing NEET was made mandatory for all admissions from June 1 this year.

Nevertheless, the judge doubted how appropriate would it be to permit students who had scored 50% marks in Plus Two examinations to get admission in foreign colleges just because they had cleared NEET. He insisted that apart from clearing NEET, at least 75 to 80% marks in Plus Two should be scored to gain admission in foreign colleges.