& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Medical College Intake

Cure the cumbersome process

Mamunar Rashid
SINCE we have reverted to the previous system of medical admission, I have a few suggestions to make about admission into private medical colleges so that it is less of a hassle. As there are now far more students seeking admission into private medical colleges than into government ones, the admission process needs much more attention than is currently being given in the private medical colleges.
At present, the system is such that as soon as the students are selected for the government colleges, the students/ guardians who can spare the money have to run from one private medical college to another trying to seek admission. The private medical colleges receive applications from any number of eligible candidates and select candidates based on the merit position of the applicants. But no candidate is sure where (s)he will get the chance.
Private medical colleges have different quotas for admission. If there are actually 100 seats, 25 will be for foreign students, 5 for non-solvent but meritorious students, 2 for freedom fighters' children, and five for the college governing body's preferences. So in reality, any college having 100 seats will have only 63 students who will be admitted on merit only. Supposing your merit position is 3500 (after those who got selected in a government college), your chance of getting selected in a private medical college should be guaranteed in one private medical college as there are more than 4,000 seats. But in reality, that does not happen. You have to apply to as many colleges (with a fee of around Tk. 1,500) as you can afford, and still fail to get admitted.
Let me try to explain the situation as best as I can because many applicants to private medical colleges, not to speak of the guardians, do not understand why they cannot get admitted to their desired private medical college despite being eligible.
Let's take the example of 12 private medical colleges in three categories. The most sought after colleges in order of preference being Colleges A, B, C and D. Then there are the middle order Colleges K, L, M and N and the poorest performing Colleges W, X, Y and Z. Suppose your merit position is 250. So you should get a position in either A, B, C or D as each has a capacity of around 100 (actually 63) seats. But taking no chance you have also applied to K. When the results are published you are in the waiting list of B and C but selected in K. College K asks you to get admitted long before B and C or your claim will be cancelled and given to another waiting candidate in College K. Now what is your choice? Do you get admitted in K and forego your chance in B and C?
The same game goes on between A, B, C and D. Supposing you are selected in Colleges C and D but put in the waiting list of A and B. You obviously want to be admitted in College A but C and D give a last date of admission prior to waiting list admission dates of A and B. Now you are in a dilemma. Should you wait and take a chance with A or sacrifice your wish and get admitted into C? Not taking admission in C might cause you to lose admission in A or B also as those in their waiting list before your merit position may have filled up all the seats of A and B.
I am not mentioning X, Y or Z. They are willing to pounce on any student they get and complete their quota even before those in the waiting lists of the other good ones are eligible to enter. So, by the time you lose your chance in the top and middle order, the lowest performing colleges are already filled up and you are left in the cold.
But things get worse if you are in the merit position of around 2500. Theoretically, you have a right of admission into the K, L, M, N category. But hoping against hope you have applied in one of the A-D category, one in the K-N category and also in one W-Z category. You find that you are now in the waiting list of N and selected in W-Z colleges. Since you have been given a last date of admission in College W, you take no chance, spend Tk. 16 lac and take admission in College W. To your surprise, after a few days you find that the office of N is calling you for admission. College W will not refund your money and you cannot afford another Tk. 15 lacs. Now all you can do is bite your nails and ponder what went wrong. You lose interest and foul up your career.
Having said all this, I have a few suggestions to make. When the students apply for the medical admission test, they have to make a choice of the government colleges in order of their preference. They are automatically (because of computerisation of the system) put in the medical college of their choice given their merit position, district, freedom fighter quota, etc. Is there any reason not to have the same system for those meritorious students who have to opt for a private medical college?
This can also be done after the selection for the government medical colleges. The government should ask the private medical colleges what their fees are and the number of seats that have to be filled in on merit basis, and these should be made public when the applications are sought.
The government medical colleges should first fill up their own seats, make the first auto migration (an automated system which fills up the vacant seats as some students do not enroll even after being selected) and then go for placement of the non-solvent but meritorious category in private medical colleges (this is reserved for 5% of the seats of private colleges). After this, the automated selection of students (seats for the merit quota only) from the list of chosen private colleges can be made.
Let the 63% seats be allotted purely on merit, based on the same principle as the government medical colleges. The Director of Medical Education of the DGHS has categorically stated that computer programming for the private colleges is already done but does not have a formal directive to implement it. It is only the Ministry of Health and Family Planning that can do it. Let the students also claim their right of fair admission into the private medical colleges.
The writer is Principal, Ibrahim Medical College.