NEET row holds up NMC nod for medical colleges across state

Hyderabad : Doubts are hovering over the start of the academic year in the eight new medical colleges proposed by the State government, as the National Medical Commission (NMC) is yet to give permission for these colleges even as the counselling would be starting by this month end.

The Directorate of Medical Education had sent applications for setting up eight medical colleges in places like Yadadri, Gadwal, Quthbullapur, Narsampet, Narayanpet, Mulugu, Medak and Maheshwaram. The NMC authorities did not take up inspection directly but completed the process in a virtual mode finding some issues in the applications sent and also suggested some improvements. The officials made changes as per the recommendations of the NMC. However, the permission is yet to be granted by the Commission. According to the officials, as per the practice, the NMC used to give permission for these colleges at least two months prior to the counselling. The NMC gave permission for eight medical colleges in 2022 and for nine medical colleges in 2023 well before the counselling. However, with no permission so far, doubts hover over getting the medical seats. Assuming at least 50 seats per medical college, around 400 seats will be available for the students of Telangana. There is tough competition for the medical seats with lakhs of students writing NEET from the state.

There are a total of 8,515 MBBS seats in 28 government and 28 private medical colleges in the State, including 3,915 seats in government colleges and 4,600 in private colleges. As many as 77,849 students had appeared for the NEET and over 47,000 qualified. The student seat ratio was 1:6 for availability of seats. The seats are going to increase by at least 400 taking the tally to 4,315 seats. According to a senior official, they have already requested the NMC to take a decision at the earliest as the academic year will be starting soon and the Commission has informed them that they would take a decision by the month end. The delay was attributed to the present controversy surrounding the NEET examination. The classes for the new academic year are likely to start in August/September and the officials are hopeful of getting a positive response from the NMC. In 2022, the classes had started from November 15 and in 2023, nine medical colleges started on September 15.