Common Entrance for PG Medical courses - Summary of events thus far

Revolutionary common entrance to medical PG courses faces hurdles due to petty politics

There have been multiple entrance examinations for admissions to under graduate and post graduate medical courses in our country. While each state conducts its separate entrance exam, an All India exam is conducted by AIIMS (on behalf of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare) for 50 percent of post graduate and 15 percent of under graduate seats of all the government medical colleges of the country. All the states (except Andhra Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir, who opted out of it) contribute the above mentioned percentage of seats to the central pool. Apart from these, central institutions like AIIMS, PGIMER (Chandigarh) and JIPMER (Puducherry) conduct their own entrance examinations. The private colleges too conduct entrance tests, either individually or as consortia.

The counselings for various exams for entrance to post graduate medical courses take place from February to May. People who succeed in multiple exams attend all the counselings in search of the best option. It leads to seats of All India pool being vacated even after the second counseling, as some students get better options through state entrances or in some other institutes. The wait-listed candidates then approach the Supreme Court and a third counseling (termed - extended second counseling) has become the norm for last few years. This leads to a delay in the session every year.

Hearing one such case, the Supreme Court suggested the authorities to consider a single common entrance. The Medical Council of India then prepared a draft for such an exam which would be the common gateway to all the government and private medical colleges of the country. MCI's proposal received a thumbs up from the ministry and on 29th June 2010 it was announced that this common entrance would come into effect from the coming session itself. As found through an RTI filed, all barring three states were in support of this proposal. The proposal was welcomed by students across the country. There were misconceptions that such a proposal would affect the existing reservation quotas in various states but the MCI promptly cleared the air by stating that none of the existing quotas will be tempered with.

But in August, Tamil Nadu government voiced its strong opposition to the proposal. They did not want the 69 percent reservation in their state to be tempered (which MCI had already given assurance about). They also argued that they had abolished entrance exams because such exams put students from rural areas at a disadvantage (admission to M.B.,B.S. courses in Tanil Nadu is given on basis of marks obtained in plus two but they have an entrance exam for admission to post graduate courses). Bowing down to pressure, the central government decided to shelf the proposal on August 17.

Medical graduates figured out that the Tamil Nadu government was basically opposing a common entrance for under graduate course and not the one for post graduate courses. The students then requested the Supreme Court to make them a party in the ongoing case. Supreme Court made the students a party to the case (Writ Petition Civil No. 380 of year 2009) and they were allowed to present their case. The Supreme Court found merit in the petition as none of Tamil Nadu government's arguments held true against a common entrance for post graduate courses. On 17th September, the Supreme Court suggested to the government to start with a common entrance for PG courses this year, see the response and then look at a common entrance for under graduate courses. The Solicitor General Gopal Subrahmaniam who was himself present in the court said that the central government was in favour of a common entrance test. On the behalf of the government he agreed to notify a common entrance for post graduate courses by 24th of September. But for reasons unknown, it was not notified. On 24th, the Court asked the government to submit an affidavit to it in two days and to notify the common entrance within a week.

The students fear that lobbies with vested interests are at work and are trying to get the things delayed. If things are delayed beyond an extent, it would become logistically difficult to implement the exam this year and the term of the current board of governors of the MCI (which students have immense faith in) will end in March 2011. 

The important thing to be noted here is that students (including those from Tamil Nadu), the MCI, as well as the central government have favoured this change but the proposal has received a setback due to opposition by DMK, a key player in the majority mathematics at the centre. 

The big advantages of a common entrance include:-
- It will reduce hassles for students caused by the need to travel for appearing in multiple exams and attend various counselings.
- The exam pattern will become standard as many states do not have the most efficient of examining methods and have frequently bred controversies.
- Most importantly, a single exam with a single window counseling will ensure that one student chooses only one seat and consequently wastage and lapsing of seats will be prevented. Currently, a student who joins any department which has two seats for post graduation and leaves his seat after the second round of counseling, causes the department to have a 50 percent shortage of junior doctors.
- According to MCI's proposal, the private colleges too will have to admit students on the basis of marks obtained in this common entrance through an open, transparent process. It will help curb the corruption that has been rampant in most private colleges. 

Those who oppose common entrance for post graduate courses have failed to give a single valid reason. But petty politics for votes is becoming a hurdle in the way of a revolutionary change proposed by the MCI which could very well make India "the destination" for quality medical education.