Thiruvananthapuram: The MBBS and BDS admissions in the state may be delayed in view of the failure of the all-party meeting and the meeting of state health ministers held in New Delhi on Monday to decide whether the state governments could make admission from their own entrance examinations.
Even if the admissions to colleges in the state are to be made from the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET), a separate state rank list has to be prepared apart from the all-India rank list. This is to ensure that the state could admit students on the basis of its law to protect reservations also, sources said.
The meeting failed to reach a consensus on NEET. There are also speculations that the Centre may approach the Supreme Court in a bid to defer the issuance of an ordinance making NEET the only test for MBBS and BDS for the whole country for another year.
While many states supported a single national examination, many others had reservations, especially against the decision to conduct the test only in English. These states wanted the centre to conduct the NEET in the regional languages also, sources said.
In April, the Supreme Court had ruled that NEET would be the only test for admissions to MBBS and BDS courses, after turning down the appeals by many states which wanted to hold separate entrance examinations.
Kerala wanted MBBS and BDS admissions to be made from the entrance examinations already conducted by the state. As many as 6.5 lakh students had appeared in the first phase of NEET on May 1. The next phase is scheduled for July 24.
