Thiruvananthapuram: Health minister K.K. Shylaja has said that the state government will extend the deadline for medical and dental admissions by 10 days if necessary as per the directive of the Supreme Court. Ms Shylaja, who was replying to an adjournment motion moved by Mr V.S. Shivakumar of the Congress on Tuesday, maintained that there were no lapses in the admission process. The plan was to complete all admissions before the scheduled date of August 31. The state has not sought any extension of deadline. However, following the plea by some state governments, the Medical Council of India (MCI) and Dental Council of India (DCI) had decided to seek an extension which was agreed to by the Supreme Court, Ms Shyalaja said. She denied the Opposition charge that the admission process was “deliberately delayed” to help the self-financing private colleges.
Spot admissions will be held by the government. The private self-financing colleges would not be allowed to fill a single seat, she said. “I want to make it clear that the government will fill the spot admission if there is any vacancy and that seats will not be left to private college managements,” she said. She added that 90 per cent of the seats in government medical colleges had been filled in the first allotment phase that ended last week. The private colleges could also participate in the second allotment process that started on August 5. From this academic year, there would be only NEET merit list for medical admissions. All admissions, including in the private colleges, would be held as per the list.
The fee fixed by the Fee Regulatory Committee was provisional and the government has no say on it. The final fee would be decided by the High Court, she said. The government was able to stop the self-financing medical colleges from charging exorbitant fee and accepting capitation amount this time, she claimed. Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala wan-ted Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to shift Ms Shylaja from the health ministry to protect the interest of students. He sought the intervention of Mr Vijayan to end the “stalemate” in the admission process. Speaker P. Sreeramakrishnan disallowed the notice for the debate after the minister’s reply. Following this, the Opposition staged a walkout.
