MCI bid to rope in state govts

According to sources,if a consensus is reached,the ministry,which has so far been objecting to the CET for undergraduate and postgraduate medical courses,will also give its go-ahead. However,if the proposal gets a thumbs down or if the state health ministers ask for changes,the MCI would leave it to the ministry to take a call, the sources said.

They said the presentation would try to impress upon the state health ministers that if approved,the CET would ease the whole process as the students would have to appear for only one examination. We also want to make it clear that we are not going to change the seat matrics, the sources said.

After it issued the notification late last month,the MCI received a lot of flak from the Health Ministry which opposed the notification and even wrote to the medical profession regulator asking it to withdraw the same. Officials said the notification was not valid since it was issued without prior consultation with the Union ministry.

Subsequently,the proposal faced opposition from Tamil Nadu as well which has the maximum number of private medical colleges.

Soon after the notification,Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Karunanidhi wrote to Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad saying he was astonished by the notification and his government would strongly protest this move. The state later got a stay order from the Madras High Court on the notification.

The proposed notification on amendment of procedure and eligibility criteria for admission to medical courses if approved,will abolish the present system of medical entrance examinations carried out by various boards and institutions for admissions to 271 medical colleges 138 government and 133 privately managed.

Depending on the discussions,the Union Health Ministry will also come out with an action plan called the Hyderabad Action Plan for all states.