Odisha govt to conduct counselling in 85% seats of pvt medical colleges

Bhubaneswar:  A move which is believed to bring more transparency and curb arbitrary practices pertaining to a host of aspects in medical college admissions, the Odisha government has decided to conduct counselling of 85% seats in private medical colleges.

The Health department has notified the Skill Development and Technical Education department about the decision which will leave colleges with only 15% seats for which they can conduct their own counselling. Such a step has been taken is in pursuant with the guidelines to the central government guidelines.

“As we have received instructions from the Central government we are forced to implement it. We have taken a decision to that we will conduct counselling in the 85% of the seats under State Quota. We have already informed the concerned department and the OJEE and DMET authorities will act accordingly,” informed additional secretary of Health department, Surjit Das.

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Many feel that this step will rein in arbitrary practices in terms of the collecting fees and also conducting admissions by private medical colleges and deemed universities.

From the current academic session, common counselling will be conducted for MBBS and BDS seats in private medical colleges. The seats will be filled up based on the All-India entrance examination ranks. However, the admission fees are yet to be finalized for the colleges.

“In cases where we need clarifications on various aspects to implement the rules, we will discuss it with the State government and we will clarify the students everything prior to commencement of the admission process,” said OJEE chairman, Tushar Kumar Nath.