Change in eligibility criteria leaves MBBS, BDS aspirants confused

Faridkot, October 13

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A last-minute change in eligibility criteria for admission to the MBBS and BDS courses by the Department of Medical Education and Research (DMER) under the state quota has left thousands of aspirants harried and confused.

After receiving numerous complaints, the DMER today decided to postpone the admission process for two days and convened a meeting to settle the issue.

Dr Avnish Kumar, VC, Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, said, “Keeping in view the complaints of students, we have decided to extend the registration from October 13 to 15.” The controversy erupted after the DMER came out with a notification, stating that only those candidates who mentioned Punjab in their domicile in the NEET-UG entrance test form would be eligible for the state quota in the MBBS and BDS courses.

This notification had come after the NEET-UG test was conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA).

However, while releasing the NEET-UG result on September 7, the NTA had applied the formula of place of birth, residence and passing of Class XI and XII exams by the candidates as criteria for their state selection.

As per record, 15,561 candidates from Punjab sat in the exam and 10,533 qualified the test by scoring more than 50 per cent marks.

The DMER notification left over 2,000 candidates out of these 10,533 qualified candidates ineligible for the admission on state quota seats.

Among 1,500 MBBS seats in 10 medical colleges, 179 seats have been reserved for NRI candidates. There are 75 Sikh quota and 64 Christian minority quota seats. Further, 105 MBBS seats in four government medical institutes in the state are reserved for the all-India quota. There are 1,350 BDS seats at 16 dental colleges in the state.