Southern States - Tamil Nadu   

Delayed admission process worries para-medical colleges

By K. Ramachandran

CHENNAI March 7 . Colleges in Tamil Nadu offering nursing, pharmacy and physiotherapy and other para-medical courses are eagerly awaiting announcements by the Central and State Governments on streamlining of the admission process.

The recent Supreme Court judgment on the issue of unaided educational institutions has given rise to a new concern for these colleges. A few college chairpersons say that till now the management quota was only 10-15 per cent and the seats got filled by July or so. The other seats were filled by the selection committee of the Medical Education Directorate. After completing MBBS and BDS admissions, the committee would take up the allotment for para-medical courses, which process went on till even December (as in 2002). "The managements, after filling part of the seats by July/August, wait till after the government quota allotment is over. Consequently, fixing of the examination dates runs into problems, notes Valli Alagappan, chairperson, Umayal Achi College of Nursing.

In engineering education, the Anna University conducts the entrance examination, counselling for admissions and also semester examinations. But in medical and para-medical education, the entrance test is conducted by the Anna University, the allotment is done by the selection committee and the examinations are held by the MGR Medical University, she points out. The university says students who join the B.Pharm, physiotherapy or nursing courses before August 31 can write the examination in May the subsequent year; and those joining later, can appear for the examinations in the subsequent November. Over the past nine years, this arrangement has led to a lot of problems and frustration among students and loss of time and money for the college, says Ms. Valli Alagappan. "Till last year, the number of students was a few, but now, after the Supreme Court order, we can admit 50 per cent of the students, who cannot wait for many months for the start of the course. If the selection committee completes the admissions by September, the university will have to streamline the examination schedule."

Ishari Ganesh, secretary, Tamil Nadu Paramedical Colleges Managements Association, says early entrants to para-medical courses get impatient and demand that the colleges start early. "We have written to the Health Secretary, the Health Minister and the Vice-Chancellor urging them to streamline the process."

He also wants the Government to announce soon a fee structure, which has remained unchanged for nearly eight years for these courses.

Enquiries with the Medical Education department and the Medical University reveal that the Union Health Ministry, along the Dental and Medical Councils of India, is working on setting a September 30 deadline for admissions. The university examinations can then be conducted without hassle. A meeting of Secretaries and bureaucrats from the States, held in Delhi on Friday, ended with many State representatives seeking more time for a final decision, said a senior Health department official.

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