M A I N   N E W S

Common medical entrance test unlikely this year
Aditi Tandon/TNS

New Delhi, March 19
A week after the Supreme Court gave the go-ahead to the Medical Council of India (MCI) to conduct a common entrance test for admission to 299 medical colleges, the MCI remains unprepared to break new ground this year.

After trying its best to work out ways for holding the test, the council’s board of governors (BoG) has almost decided to advance the task until the next year. The All-India PMT of the CBSE is already scheduled for April 3 and the test papers are ready.

“We met many stakeholders to see if someone could conduct the test for us. The CBSE also expressed its inability considering close to four lakh students take the test annually. We will tell the Supreme Court that we can hold the test next year. Had it been conducted this year, it would have covered the medical colleges of the entire country, except Tamil Nadu that has opted out. But if it continues to stay out, we can’t guarantee the future of the students passing out of medical colleges in the state. Obviously those who don’t come through the common test system would face difficulties as regards MCI recognition,” Dr Ranjit Roy Choudhary, member of the MCI BoG told The Tribune today.

The MCI said whenever a CET system would come into being, every state would be allocated a quota. “Till now, there is no system of ensuring that students enter the medical colleges on merit. Anyone who can pay for the seat gets it. But a CET will ensure the predominance of merit in medicine in India. States can continue to choose their own students but those students must have figured in the CET merit list. If a certain state is unable to find enough meritorious students to fill its quota, we will not take that quota away. It will continue to exist till a deserving student gets in,” Choudhary explained.

Except for a defined number of management quota seats in the private colleges, all other seats would have to be filled through merit once a common exam system gets consolidated. This would end the current crisis of lack of quality medical graduates.