Even as post-graduate medical aspirants appear for the final day of the National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET) on Thursday, the debate on whether Andhra Pradesh will fall in line or not is still unclear.
Though the state government has approached the centre to implement the examination from academic year 2014-15, the matter which is sub-judice with the Supreme Court is unlikely to be resolved before January 2013.
Meanwhile, officials concerned with medical education are of the opinion that participating in the national-level test might open up more options for the students from the state.
“If the state decides to participate in the entrance, it will ensure that our students are exposed to 49,000 medical seats all over the country. Going by their performance in other national-level competitive tests such as IIT-JEE. For this, 15 per cent seats will have to be contributed by the state to the national pool which is not possible under the existing framework,” said the director of medical education, Dr. K. Vishnu Prasad.
The discussions held so far indicate that officials concerned are in favour of joining the central pool for the additional seats available, though private medical college managements have opposed the idea.
“The interim order by apex court allows us to conduct a separate examination for admissions to private medical colleges. The schedule for post-graduate examination will be announced by February 2013,” said Dr. G. Bhaskara Rao, chairman of All India Un-aided Medical Colleges and Universities Association. The entrance test will be common for admission to all un-aided private medical colleges.
However, the notice issued by the Medical Council of India (MCI) does not specify the mode of counselling for the students. “The students will be allotted an All-India-Rank as well as a state rank based on the percentile system as per the MCI ruling for NEET. The counselling will be conducted by the state government depending on the state ranks,” added the director of medical education. He said that most of the educational institutions were in the process of conducting special coaching for preparation of the NEET.
Though the last date for registering for the NEET for admission to MBBS courses is scheduled for December 31, it is unlikely that the apex court will reach a decision before the stipulated time.