‘PG medical admission through common counselling only’

CHENNAI: Admissions to PG medical education will be done through common counselling either by the directorate general of medical services (DGHS) or by the state government and not by respective medical colleges, the Union health and family welfare ministry has clarified in a letter to principal secretaries of all states and Union territories.
The MCI’s admission regulations 2018 dated April 5, which provide for private medical colleges to admit students to 50% of the seats, will be superseded by the Supreme Court order, it said.

The two-page letter dated April 10 issued by the undersecretary Amit Biswas said, in view of the September 2016 SC order making entrance test and common counselling mandatory, “All admissions will be made through common counselling and not by the medical colleges or institutions concerned. Since the PG counselling session 2018-19 is going on, it is hereby reiterated that the state governments shall conduct common counselling for all PG institutions located in the state including for management and NRI quota seats. There shall be no exemption whatsoever,” it said.

The Postgraduate Medical Education (Amendment) Regulations 2018 said in non-government medical colleges or institutions, 50% of the total seats shall be filled by the state government or the authority appointed by them, and remaining seats shall be filled by the medical college concerned on the basis of NEET merit list. The ministry reiterated this was an existing clause 9 (iv) notified on December 21 2010 under the PG Medical Education Regulation 2010. Under the same regulation, clause 9 (A) mandates common counselling for all institutions in the state, it said.

Meanwhile, MCI officials will be discussing the regulation in their upcoming executive committee meeting. “The notification caused a lot of confusion,” said MCI vice president Dr C V Bhirmanandham. “The notification also mentions that admissions cannot violate the SC order. We will be discussing the issue on Wednesday,” he said.

Meanwhile, the state health department said there were no changes in the admission process. The directorate of medical education, New Delhi, will conduct counselling for the 50% seats surrendered by the state government medical colleges under the all India quota. They will also conduct counselling for central institutions, universities established under the act of Parliament and the deemed universities, besides admission to all super speciality courses across the country.

The state selection committee under the directorate of TN medical education will conduct counselling for state quota seats. “The letter from the Union ministry clarifies that we should conducting counselling for all seats in self-financing colleges affiliated to state university. No other admission will be valid,” said health secretary J Radhakrishnan.