After the Pondicherry Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) submitted a letter to the Chief Secretariat (Health) refusing to share any MBBS seats with the government, Sri Manakula Vinayagar Medical College and Hospital has now followed suit, delaying the announcement of merit list.
Private medical colleges are expected to share 50% of the medical seats under the government quota. While Sri Venkateshwaraa Medical College Hospital and Research Centre and Sri Manakula Vinayagar Medical College and Hospital were supposed to provide 150 medical seats to the Centralised Admission Committee (Centac) sponsored students, PIMS had to provide 100 seats.
A senior medical officer in the Department of Health and Family Welfare said that none of the institutions had shared all seats expected of them in the previous years.
“While PIMS shared 37 medical seats, the other two colleges provided 55 seats under the government quota. The government held several meetings with the private medical colleges to finalise seat sharing for this academic year. Although they agreed to share the number of seats like the previous year, it is surprising that two medical institutions have submitted letters refusing to share any seats with the government," the official said.
Bone of contention
The official added that the reason for their refusal was the low fee structure for candidates admitted through the Centac merit list. “The Centac-sponsored candidates pay only around ₹3 lakh as against the management quota students who are expected to pay at least ₹15 lakh to ₹20 lakh fees,” the official said.
In response to the letter by the private medical institutions, Health Secretariat, Government of Puducherry, has in an order said the decision not to allot any seats to the government for this year was not acceptable and rejected in the larger public interest and particularly in the interest of students of the Union Territory of Puducherry.
“Sri Manakula Vinayagar Medical College and Hospital and PIMS are directed to admit 55 students and 37 students sponsored by the Centac under the government quota during the combined counselling to be held shortly without fail,” said in its orders signed by M. Sarathi, deputy secretary to the Government (Health).
The senior medical officer added that the merit list was likely to be published by Friday.
“We will complete the first round of counselling by July 5,” the official added.