MDS admissions: Internship cut-off date extended

FARIDKOT : On the recommendations of the Dental Council of India (DCI), the directorate general of health services (DGHS) has extended the internship completion cut-off date by four months for eligible students for admissions to MDS and dental postgraduate diploma courses for the academic session 2021-22.

In view of the Covid-19 pandemic, the DCI had requested to extend the internship completion cut-off date from March 31 to July 31 for those students who appeared in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET)-MDS 2021 and fulfil the eligibility criteria for admission to MDS and PG diploma courses.

The DGHS in a notice said the competent authority has decided to extend the last date of internship as a one-time measure, not to be taken as a precedent. “Also, the registration and choice filling is being extended by one day to allow such candidates to register and exercise choices who have become eligible after the extension of internship completion date,” it reads.

Earlier, candidates undergoing one-year rotatory internship practical training were required to complete their internship by March 31. Now, the candidates who completed internship on or before July 31 will be eligible for MDS admission.

The medical counselling committee has started the first round of counselling for admissions to 1,326 MDS seats under the all India quota. As many as 26,000 candidates, including 2,150 from Punjab, had taken the NEET MDS in December.

Punjab has 11 dental colleges, including two government-run at Amritsar and Patiala, which offer 139 seats in MDS courses. There are 11 all india quota MDS seats in two government dental colleges in the state. However, the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS) is yet to start counselling for the 85% state-quota MDS seats in government dental colleges and all the seats of private dental colleges.