In-person counselling held for special category and horizontal reservation students for medical admission
The counselling process for admission to MBBS and BDS courses in the State began on Thursday with in-person counselling for special category candidates and those
The counselling process for admission to MBBS and BDS courses in the State began on Thursday with in-person counselling for special category candidates and those belonging to the horizontal reservation category (7.5% reservation for students from government schools). For general category candidates, choice filling option has been enabled and the counselling process would be carried out online. Students and parents assembled at the Tamil Nadu Government Multi Super-Speciality Hospital, Omandurar Government Estate, early in the morning. As many as 614 seats were up for grabs under the 7.5% reservation category, 224 seats for students with physical disabilities, 15 seats under sports quota, and 11 for children of e servicemen. K.G. Arunraj, Health Minister, distributed allotment orders to a select group of students from each category in the evening. He said only 614 seats were being filled during this round of counselling under the 7.5% category, although a total of 641 seats were available.
Five colleges had applied for additional seats and approval from authorities was awaited. Asked about undue charges collected by certain private colleges, Dr. Arunraj said that the government has been receiving complaints but most are anonymous and they are not able to produce evidence or bank statements when the authorities went for enquiry. “That is why we are not able to proceed in those cases. In few cases, we have been able to get evidence. We will surely act on them,” he added. At the counselling centre, M. Lavanya of Chennai Girls’ Higher Secondary School, Perambur, had a big smile on her face. She spent a year at home after her higher secondary examination preparing for NEET all by herself. In the disabled category, she ranked 2955 nationally and 92 in the State, securing a seat at the Cuddalore Medical College.
“I was confident while facing the first NEET exam in May, but the re-NEET paper was tough,” she notes. Lavanya’s father works as a tailor and her mother is a contractual worker with the Chennai Petrochemicals Limited. B.S. Dharanish, who secured second rank in the 7.5% category, studied at the Sadasivapuram Higher Secondary School, Thalaivasal, Salem before shifting to the Salem District Model School in Class X. However, He could not crack the exam in his first attempt, prompting him to enrol into a private coaching academy at Salem. “I wish to pursue research after my MBBS. I would like to discover new drugs,” he says. S. Kayalvizhi, who secured the 45th rank in the 7.5% category, bagged a seat at the city’s Kilpaluk Medical College. After completing MBBS, she wants to pursue orthopaedics as a speciality.
Daughter of a daily wage worker in Kandachipuram, Villupuram District, Kayalvizhi dropped two years after her higher secondary exam and enrolled herself into a private coaching centre in Salem to prepare for NEET. In the crowd of young school-leavers, 51-year-old A. Sureshkumar stood out. The marketing professional said he appeared for NEET to prusue his passion for science. Even after completing PhD in pharmaceutical management and diagnostics, he couldn’t find his calling and hence this change of track. He secured a seat at the Nagapattinam Medical College under the physically disabled category.
The BriefWire