NEET-PG: Haryana announces joint counselling, Punjab still undecided

Punjab’s prevailing silence on conducting joint counseling for soon-to-begin-admission to its postgraduate (PG) courses is raising the temper of its medical students, even as Haryana government has already gone ahead to conduct joint counselling for all its private and government medical and dental institutes on the basis of National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET)’s PG merit.

Punjab’s prevailing silence on conducting joint counselling for soon-to-begin-admission to its postgraduate (PG) courses is raising the temper of its medical students, even as Haryana government has already gone ahead to conduct joint counselling for all its private and government medical and dental institutes on the basis of National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET)’s PG merit.

Punjab’s decision is pending for last two months even as it received centre’s advisory on December 5 asking all states/UTs if they hold combined counselling for next session’s PG admissions. (HT Image)

A public notice released by the Haryana two days ago has warned that any admission made by a private institute including those granted status of deemed university at their own level will be declared invalid and such admissions would be considered null and void.

Haryana has two private deemed institutes offering post graduate medical courses besides 9 institutes offering dental surgery courses.

Haryana’s additional chief secretary Medical education Dhanpat Singh said that the government took the call to bring more transparency in medical admission in the state since there were a lot of complaints from students alleging exploitation and corruption in allotment by the private institutes.

But miffed at the delay in Punjab, Maitri, a medical aspirant that it was unfair for state government to keep students guessing when NEET-PG results were already declared three weeks ago and admission will begin soon. “The joint counselling is more crucial for post graduate courses due to level of exploitation by private institutes during allotment of seats. This must stop with pro active approach of the state government,” she added

When contacted Punjab’s director research and medical education Dr. Sujata Sharma she said that the government was serious students’ concern. “The department’s secretary Vikas Partap is off for election duty. The final call will be taken once he will be back next week,” he said

However, Dr Arvind Goyal, a Chandigarh-based NEET Trainer said the move by the Haryana Govt will make the admission process more transparent and make the entire process more student-friendly. “Punjab Government should also follow the suit,” he said

Punjab ignored joint counselling call on MBBS admission too

It is pertinent to mention that Punjab ignored centre’s call by allowing its deemed medical universities to hold their separate admission counselling during last session’s MBBS/BDS admission. On the contrary, the neighbouring state Haryana prevailed over its private institutes for the large interest of students.