Common counselling for medical courses rejected

HYDERABAD: The proposed common counselling for medical, agriculture and allied courses, on the lines of engineering counselling, was apparently shot down by the Medical and Health Department citing administrative and logistical reasons much to the chagrin of officials of Education Department and various Universities involved in the process.

The move that could have helped students immensely from both convenience and economic point of view was rejected by the Medical Department, under which the NTR University of Health Sciences (NTRUHS) functions, arguing that fresh G.Os have to be issued. Another reason cited was that medical colleges have to complete the admissions before the deadline set by the Medical Council of India. While higher education in all the streams in the State directly functions under the Education Department, the medical education is dealt by the Medical and Health Department.

Sources said a senior official in the Medical and Health Department did not favour the idea of common counselling despite the advantages explained.

It is alleged that the officials were annoyed that the process had started without involving them directly. The A.P. State Council of Higher Education mooted the idea with the NTRUHS, Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University (ANGRAU), Veterinary University and the Horticulture University since the courses are offered by them. “Can’t the department make few changes and issue new G.Os if it is in the interests of thousands of students?” asked a senior official.

Meeting held

In fact, after the idea was mooted a month ago, officials of the concerned departments met twice and discussed the nuances involved. “If there were any objections they could have raised in the first meeting itself and closed the issue.” hey could have chosen their courses as per their rank at the same venue. Now, they have to appear separately for all the streams and even the Universities have to give separate notifications. Moreover, students can’t take the risk of missing any counselling.

Meanwhile, all the other three universities are getting ready to issue a common notification for agriculture, veterinary and horticulture courses. They plan to start counselling in the first week of August and complete by August end. Notification is likely to come out within a week.
(Source : The Hindu)