VIJAYAWADA:Counselling for the PG Medical Degree courses in both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states will commence at the NTR University of Health Sciences (NTRUHS) in Vijayawada on April 29 and continue till May 7. The registrations will be done at 8 a.m. and counselling will begin at 9 am.
Stating this at a news conference here on Tuesday, NTRUHS Vice-Chancellor T Ravi Raju said elaborate arrangements had been made for the counselling in a transparent and effective manner. He said the counselling was being held for a total number of 1,860 seats, including 667 in-service category seats, in both the states for 8,992 candidates who had qualified in the entrance exam held on March 1.
He said the seat matrix had been decided after consultations with higher government officials concerned of both the states. “We have made all necessary arrangements for the smooth conduct of counselling, which will be computer-based. National Informatics Centre (NIC) officials have already made necessary arrangements,” he added.
Defending the counselling fee of Rs 2,000 per candidate, which is non-refundable, the V-C said they had collected similar counselling fee for all other courses, including MBBS, MDS, BDS, Nursing and Physical Therapy courses. “I do not think it will be a problem and I do not foresee any objections. After all, we are only collecting the fee for providing better facilities during counselling and making necessary arrangements,” he said.
Raju appealed to the candidates appearing for the counselling not to bring attendants like parents, spouses, children for the counselling to avoid inconvenience to themselves and others. “Admissions will be made till May 15 and we expect a report on the admissions from the colleges on May 16. We are planning to conduct the second round of counselling from June 1,” he said.
Asked about the measures to address delays due to breakdown of servers and computers during the counselling, he said they had been conducting computer-based counselling for various courses for more than a year now and added that there had been no such problem till date.
The Vice-Chancellor said that the notification for counselling and seat matrix (distribution of seats among various categories in each broad speciality for service and non-service categories) had been posted on the university website.