The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Medical admission: health varsity waiting for Centre's nod

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Sep 14, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Medical admission: health varsity waiting for Centre's nod

By Our Special Correspondent

VIJAYAWADA, SEPT. 13. As the September 30 deadline set by the Supreme Court to complete the admission to medical and dental colleges nears, the NTR University of Health Sciences authorities are keeping their fingers crossed on the number of seats for which admission will be made for the current academic year.

Though the university has notified the dates for the second phase of counselling, the authorities are still to get a clear picture on the restoration of seats for which the Medical Council of India refused to renew permission. The confusion over whether or not to make admission to the 113 seats in medical and 32 seats in dental streams that had been kept aside after the announcement of quota for Muslims is also continuing. The university has so far completed admission to 2,552 seats in the medical stream and 555 seats in the dental stream.

Picture still hazy

The university had to set aside admission to 450 seats in the medical stream following the MCI's rejection of permission to four Government and three private colleges. The MCI also did not renew permission to a few dental colleges for want of adequate facilities, thus blocking admission to 180 seats. "A clear picture on the number of available seats will emerge only after the Central Government announces its stand on the issue on September 24 in accordance with the Supreme Court directive," the NTR-UHS Vice-Chancellor, R. Sambasiva Rao, said.

The issue pertaining to the implementation of five per cent quota to Muslims would be resolved only after the High Court gives its final verdict on the issue, he told reporters on Sunday. The university, on its part, is making all efforts to impress on the Health Secretary the need to take up the matter of reservations for Muslims with the Advocate General to ensure an expeditious resolution to the stalemate. "Even if the issues are resolved by September 24, we will be in a position to notify the third phase of counselling and complete the admission process before the month-end," he said.

Arrangements in place

With regard to the second phase of counselling, the university is making all the arrangements to ensure that the loose ends witnessed during the first phase were tied up and the students and those accompanying them were not put to any inconvenience. While the seating and related arrangements would be put in place much in advance, the university is also planning to install big screens, instead of televisions with smaller screens, to keep them informed about the proceedings from time to time, he added.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Andhra Pradesh