VIJAYAWADA: Students of Fatima Institute of Medical Sciences (FIMS) Kadapa, who lost their admissions in 2014-15, are still waiting for justice. Although the Supreme Court ordered the State government to look into the issue and submit the process through which the students can continue their education, the Medical Council of India (MCI) has ruled out the proposal put forward by the State government.The Supreme Court had given two weeks’ time for the submission of a plan to relocate FIMS students in the first week of September.
To this, the State government sent a proposal to relocate up to five students in 20 medical colleges in the State. However, the MCI ruled out the proposal, stating that meritorious students would suffer and their opportunities would be lagged.Earlier, Minister of Health Kamineni Srinivas Rao said he would like all FIMS students to be relocated into government medical colleges and the choice was ultimately left to the students. He said in case, a student chooses a private college, the donation paid to FIMS would be transferred to it. If the student chooses a government college, the donation would be used for the development of the teaching hospital attached to it.
However, as the MCI clearly opposed the move to relocate the students to government colleges, the State government is looking for alternatives. In fact, the MCI also gave an option to the State government that they can allocate government college seats to the students of FIMS on a condition to lose 99 seats in the coming year counseling. But the State government opposed the proposal and started looking for alternatives.
Speaking to Express, Appala Naidu, Registrar of NTR University of Health Sciences, said, “The case is still going on in the Supreme Court. The final decision is likely to be taken by the end of this month or in the first week of November. The department is having talks with Union ministers and MCI officials to consider the issue.”
Meanwhile, the students of FIMS and their parents are alleging that State government officials are dragging the issue and delaying justice to them. “Many people have assured us that our children would get relocated to other colleges. But with this delay, we are losing hope and the students are going through a lot of depression.We struggled hard and fought even in Delhi too. Due to the sheer negligence of the State government, we are facing these struggles. Our only hope is the judgment of the Supreme Court,” said Md. Khan, parent of a student from FIMS.
The 11 government colleges in the State have 1,750 seats, one semi-government college has 150 seats and 17 private colleges have 1,900-2,000 seats.