Date:22/04/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/04/22/stories/2005042218630300.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

PG counselling: chaos reigns on RGUHS campus

Staff Reporter

Varsity's version questioned

BANGALORE: Chaos and confusion reigned at the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) campus here on Thursday as over 200 in-service doctors seeking postgraduate medical seats questioned the university's interpretation of their eligibility for the seats and threatened to boycott the counselling process. The partially completed process is likely to resume at 10.30 a.m. on Friday.

Following Wednesday's direction by the Karnataka Administrative Tribunal (KAT) that the postgraduate admissions should be only according to Medical Council of India (MCI) regulations, the RGUHS officials had to redo their list of eligibility candidates. The university could not allot the weightage allowed by an earlier Government Order and had to go by the 50 per cent minimum marks rule. This delayed the counselling process, which did not pick up till late evening.

But when it eventually started, several in-service candidates, particularly from the Health and Family Welfare Department, Bangalore Mahanagara Palike and the Mysore Power Corporation, raised objection and staged a dharna. The MCI had stated that only candidates who had secured a minimum of 50 per cent marks in the Post Graduate Entrance Test (PGET)-2005 were eligible. Incidentally, it was the first time that even in-service candidates were asked to take the entrance test. Hitherto, only their seniority was considered for admission. The Government recently announced that they could be given weightage of up to 60 marks at the rate of five marks for every year of service. But the KAT on Wednesday ruled that only MCI guidelines should be considered. Due to this ruling, only 40 per cent of the in-service candidates could qualify for the postgraduate seats.

The university officials had to consider whether the KAT order also meant that the candidates should have secured a minimum of 50 per cent in their MBBS/BDS examinations too.

Several candidates who did not qualify were almost in tears. The Karnataka State Medical Officers Association president, T.B. Satyanarayana, said: "Doctors serving in rural areas for 10 to 15 years have not been recognised. We are disappointed. The Government should intervene and solve the problem."

A disappointed medical officer from Hassan said: "We cannot compete with the young doctors as we have to work round-the-clock in rural areas. The Government did not give us any guidance on the PGET. The test was imposed on us all of a sudden. We did not have enough time to prepare."