Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad met all state health ministers and senior bureaucrats of the health department on January 12-13 in Hyderabad. A contentious issue discussed in the two-day meet was common entrance test for MBBS, proposed by the Medical Council of India (MCI).
"Now only 10% Gujarati students are able to clear the pre-medical tests (PMT) that are held on an all-India basis. The problem is Gujarati students follow the state board's syllabus which is different from CBSE curriculum that is required in PMT. Most of our examinees are from Gujarati schools for whom English is a massive hurdle," said a Gujarat health department official.
According to the existing practice, after the XII (Science) results, students interested in medical, para-medical and engineering courses appeared in the Gujarat Common Entrance Test (Gujcet). Medical colleges
MCI in soup over entrance test move
Recently, the MCI's announcement to have a common entrance test for all students vying for a berth in MBBS and post-graduate medical courses across the country was invalidated by the Union Government earlier since the mandatory prior approval was never taken. On January 3, the Union government had issued a letter to the Board of Governors (BoG) of the MCI, rejecting the earlier notification issued by the council for conducting a 'National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test in December 2010.' TNN in Gujarat have a total of 1,095 seats. Out of these, 85% of the seats are reserved for statequota students and the rest is for students selected in the PMT. "Not just Gujarat, most of the other states have opposed the move." said a source from the Gujarat health department.
