The Medical Council of India (MCI) is mulling to make it mandatory for Non-Resident Indians (NRI) and foreign national candidates to qualify in the All India Pre-Medical Test (AIPMT) or the state examinations for admission to MBBS and BDS courses.
Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector-32 (GMCH-32) and the medical colleges in Haryana admit NRI and foreign national candidates without any qualifying examination.
Medical aspirants and their parents have been demanding that the NRIs who seek admission to medical colleges in India for MBBS course must go through the AIPMT or state examinations and obtain marks above the specified cut-off of 50%. They have been demanding that no state should be allowed to admit NRIs into medical colleges based only on the marks obtained in the 12th Board exam of their country.
Chandigarh-based PMT trainer Dr Arvind Goyal had given a representation to the MCI, seeking to make it mandatory for NRIs to qualify in the AIPMT to get admission into MBBS in medical colleges.
In response to his representation, the MCI informed him that the matter was placed before the chairman of the MCI and it was being examined by the council. “Qualifying in the competitive entrance examination is a must so as to achieve a uniform evaluation, as there may be significant variation of standards at qualifying examinations conducted by different agencies and different countries. There must be a uniform entrance exam which all MBBS aspirants, including NRIs, should qualify and only then they should be able to gain entry into MBBS based on the merit of the exam,” Dr Goyal said in his representation.
{{/usCountry}}In response to his representation, the MCI informed him that the matter was placed before the chairman of the MCI and it was being examined by the council. “Qualifying in the competitive entrance examination is a must so as to achieve a uniform evaluation, as there may be significant variation of standards at qualifying examinations conducted by different agencies and different countries. There must be a uniform entrance exam which all MBBS aspirants, including NRIs, should qualify and only then they should be able to gain entry into MBBS based on the merit of the exam,” Dr Goyal said in his representation.
{{/usCountry}}So far, GMCH-32 has been admitting NRI candidates on the basis of their Class 12 marks. In the last session, the college had six seats reserved for NRI candidates. For the session 2015-16, the number of NRI seats is yet to be decided. The college is also planning to make it mandatory for NRI candidates to qualify in the entrance examination.
If the NRI seats remain vacant, the seats will go to the general pool from where they will be distributed among different categories as per the roster. In Punjab, in the last session, only three such candidates could qualify in the AIPMT against around 100 MBBS seats.