Gurgaon pvt medical college excluded

Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 4

A Haryana Government’s decision to keep a Gurgaon private medical college out of combined counselling for admission to MBBS and BDS has raised eyebrows.

SGT Medical College, Gurgaon, will conduct its counselling independently.

Parents of several children said the government’s action smacked of favouritism, leaving scope for irregularities in the admission.

“The decision violates guidelines of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET). As per the guidelines, states and Union Territories will go for combined counselling for admission to MBBS and BDS in medical and dental colleges, including deemed universities,” said a university professor whose daughter is to appear this year.

The Department of Medical Education and Research, Haryana, recently issued a schedule for counselling. It will release the first merit list on Tuesday.

Four government and aided medical colleges included in the schedule are: Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS), Rohtak (200 seats); BPS Government Medical College for Women, Khanpur Kalan (100 seats); Shaheed Hasan Khan Mewati Government Medical College, Mewat (100 seats); Maharaja Agrasen Medical College, Agroha (100 seats); and ESIC Medical College, Faridabad (100seats).

Maharishi Markandeshwar Institute of Medical Sciences, Mullana (150 seats), affiliated to a deemed university, and two new private medical colleges — NC Medical College and Hospital, Israna (150 seats), and World College of Medical Sciences and Research, Jhajjar (150 seats) — have also been included.

But the SGT Medical College, affiliated to SGT University, will hold counselling on its own.

Medical Park, claiming to be the admission consultant of the Gurgaon college, has already floated an online advertisement for “direct admission” to the institute.

“If students are to be admitted after paying hefty capitation fees, the purpose of conducting NEET is defeated. Given a free hand, the private college will admit students of its choice. Students unwilling to pay hefty fees will be shown absent from counselling,” parents of an aspirant alleged.

Dusmanta Kumar Bahera, Director, Medical Education and Research, said, the August 9 letter of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare required the government to include all medical and dental colleges, including deemed universities in the counselling, but it was silent on private universities.

“Since SGT Medical College is affiliated to a state private university, it has not been included in the combined counselling,” he added.