VIJAYAWADA: As many as 100 medical students of Fathima Institute of Medical Sciences (FIMS) in Kadapa are likely to lose their seats as the State government is finding it hard to accommodate the students in other medical colleges in the State. A senior official from the Health department, on the condition of anonymity, said, “We tried our best to accommodate them in other medical colleges in the State. But the problem is they secured admissions through EAMCET, where as the eligibility criteria is NEET. Earlier students who had taken admissions in management quota or NRI quota had the option of being accommodated in those categories only but even that possibility has been shot down due to the implementation of NEET.”
However, Minister for Health and Medical Education Kamineni Srinivas is assuring the students of FIMS that the department is looking for all possibilities to accommodate the students in other colleges. “We would do justice to all the students. We have discussed the issue with the Chief Minister and also with the Medical Council of India (MCI) whether to permit the students in the same college or make them part of other colleges,” added Srinivas.
The students got their admission for the 2015-16 batch in September in their third and final counselling. By the time of Counselling 1& 2, the college did not receive permission either from MCI or High Court. But for the third counselling, the college was listed in the chart of counselling after the interim orders of the Hyderabad High Court. The college management went on with counselling and admitted the students under category A & B along with NRI quota. However, the college lacked the clearance of the MCI which later cancelled the admission of the students. The scam of admissions at FIMS came out after the case was dismissed by Hyderabad High Court on April 23, 2016.
In December, the Supreme court also cancelled the case filed by the students stating that the admissions were not taken up as per the guidelines.“The issue is still going on and we are discussing with the officials of MCI and Health department. To accommodate the students in other colleges, we need 100 more seats in all the colleges across the State. As the Centre made NEET mandatory as the basic eligibility test, it might take a little longer time to convince the MCI even as the students have qualified the EAMCET,” said N Subbarao, DME.
P Imran, who got admission in FIMS after his second attempt of EAMCET, said that the college management is wholly responsible for the ongoing chaos. “At the time of counselling, the NTR Health University had approved our admissions and now it is the same university that has cancelled our admissions and dragged us to the roads. Even after the High Court orders, the college management denied to refund our fees. In the name of anti-ragging, the management took our signatures on blank papers and doctored them,” added the 19-year-old. ‘Likewise, Muzeer, native of Nellore, said that his family sold their agricultural land to pay for his fees.
NTRUHS V-C holding talks with MCI, college
The students and parents have intimated Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu in December where Naidu assured to admit the students in other colleges and asked the concerned department officials to speed up the process. When Express tried to contact the registrar of FIMS, he didn’t respond. The Vice chancellor of NTR Health University is holding talks with the college management and MCI officials over the issue and denied talking about the issue.