NEET super specialty: Docs seek 3rd round of admission
SC to hear plea on 500 vacant seats tomorrow
The Supreme Court will hear on Friday a petition for a third round of admission to more than 500 vacant seats in medical colleges for super-specialty courses done after postgraduation. The test is usually associated with admission to MBBS courses, but some doctors write the NEET-super specialty for advanced studies — MCh and doctorate of medicine (DM). The NEET-SS was held on June 10 and 11 and results were out on July 15.
The Supreme Court will hear on Friday a petition for a third round of admission to more than 500 vacant seats in medical colleges for super-specialty courses done after postgraduation.
Among the 26 petitioners is Senthil Nathan, an assistant professor in Chennai, who is determined to study for an MCh degree, or master in surgery.
He cleared the single entrance examination, called national eligibility cum entrance test (NEET), this year for enrollment in private and government medical colleges in India.
Doctors such as Nathan write the NEET-super specialty for advanced studies — MCh and doctorate of medicine (DM).
The NEET-SS was held on June 10 and 11 and results were out on July 15. The first round of counselling for admission was held in August for 1,140 seats.
About 828 seats were not offered as states such as Andhra Pradesh and Telangana did not submit their vacancy lists.
The top court ordered a second round and counselling was held from September 14 to 16. Andhra Pradesh and Telangana submitted their lists this time.
But more than 500 seats remained vacant thereafter, according to Nathan, who is pitching for an “extended third round of counselling” to prevent these “precious seats from going waste”.
“The government should take steps to ensure that the 500 seats are allotted to deserving doctors and prevent a lapse of these precious seats,” he said.
Introduced last year to weed out corruption in medical education, NEET provides students rankings by which colleges offer admission through state-run counselling sessions.
The counselling for those clearing NEET-SS is done online.
Seats fell vacant after the first counselling as 250 students didn’t report, citing various reasons such as not getting their preferred college. Some were unwilling to sign a 10-year service bond mandated by several states.
Nathan and the fellow petitioners’ hopes now rest on the Supreme Court’s three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra and justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud.
They filed the petition on September 18. Nathan is an MBBS from Sri Ramchandra Medical College and did a postgraduate diploma in obstetrics and gynaecology at Stanley Medical College. He then did his master of general surgery at Kilpauk Medical College. All these institutes are in Chennai. He is working as assistant professor at the institute of general surgery of Madras Medical College.