E-Paper
No fresh NRI seats for 2005-2006 session in WB
All admissions to the MBBS course will now be made directly through the Joint Entrance Examination.
There will be no quota for NRI and management-sponsored candidates in the 9 state medical colleges for the 2005-2006 session. All admissions to the MBBS course will be made directly through the Joint Entrance Examination. As for the 65 expelled NRI quota students, the state will accommodate them in the nine colleges.
Director of medical education CR Maiti said: "Apart from the 65 expelled candidates, there will no fresh quota for NRI and NRI-sponsored students this session. All admissions to the MBBS course will be made through JEE 2005."
The seven-judge Supreme Court bench will soon pass the final order on whether to do away the NRI and NRI-sponsored quota in the undergraduate medical courses in government medical colleges. Senior health officials said the government was not willing to take the risk to continue with the NRI or management quota system in medical colleges.
The government, an official said, is also considering the option of giving an offer to candidates of low JEE ranks to take admission with enhanced fees.
Meanwhile, the Medical Council of India will visit 5 medical colleges at SSKM, Midnapore, Burdwan, Bankura and North Bengal in May to inspect the infrastructure there. Last year, the MCI had threatened to cut down on the number of medical seats at North Bengal Medical College because of inadequate infrastructure.
SSKM and Midnapore medical colleges do not yet have good infrastructure and may yet again fail to satisfy the MCI and prompt to cut down on the number of seats. The government, the official said, does not want to compound the problem by setting aside the NRI quota.
As for infrastructure at SSKM, Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education & Research (IPGME&R) director Prabir Sur said a six-storeyed building for MBBS students would come up in front of the nurses hostel inside SSKM complex. The PWD's civil wing has sanctioned the building plan.
Meanwhile, some expelled NRI quota students have requested the health department to adjust tuition fees Rs 97,000 each for first six months of 2004 session with the fees of the coming session.
The NRI quota students took admission to the 1st year MBBS course in 2004 after coughing up Rs 97,000 each to the government. But the government cancelled their admission in December last year.
