3,000 medical students admission 'illegal': MCI

The Medical Council of India (MCI) has not approved the admission of nearly 3,000 MBBS students who took management quota seats during the last two years. And the state government is to blame for this.

The government has failed to comply with the MCI norms which stipulate that management quota seats have to be filled through an entrance test conducted by either the government or a consortium of medical colleges, as per Supreme Court directions.

The government issued orders allowing admissions based on marks secured in the 10+2 exams. Indeed, it has not replied to the letters sent by MCI thrice during the last two years, seeking clarification on the management quota admissions.

In private colleges, 60 per cent of the seats are filled under the merit quota and 40 per cent under the management quota. The state has 6,200 MBBS seats in 43 medical colleges, 2,400 of them in government colleges.

Of the 3,800 seats in the private sector, 1,520 are in the management quota this year, as against 1,400 last year. Students have paid up to 1 crore for their seats under the management quota. Those who took admissions in the last two years face the risk of losing their seats if the MCI refuses to accord approval.

"We have been repeatedly urging the state government to allow us to conduct entrance test for management quota admissions for the last two years. But there has been no response from the government," said Dr. G. Bhaskar Rao, president, AP Private Medical Colleges Association.

"We have met the minister and officials of the medical education department to seeking permission to hold the test from the coming academic year," he said.

While the MCI was quite liberal in approving management quota admissions over the last 10 years, it has been maintaining a tough stand on implementing SC orders since the last two years.

"If the MCI does not approve, we will move the Supreme Court seeking relaxation of the conditions keeping in view the interests of the students. We will inform the court that we are ready to conduct the entrance test but could not do so since the government had not permitted us," Dr Rao said.