Toppers get no guarantee at MBBS counselling

CHENNAI: The usual flurry of excitement that is seen every year as each student bags a seat in a prestigious medical college was missing on day one of the MBBS counselling for the general category students on Saturday.
The counselling, that health minister C Vijaya Baskar flagged off at the Tamil Nadu Multispecialty Hospital in Omandurar Estate, was a subdued affair as more than 500 students who were allotted seats based on their ranks were sent home empty-handed without an admit card guaranteeing the seat.
The Directorate of Medical Education invited 510 applicants for the counselling out of which 502 turned up. All the 17 students, including Nishanth Rajan K of Krishnagiri, Mukesh Kannan M of Trichy and Praveen R of Tiruchengode who secured the first three ranks along with others who had scored a perfect cutoff of 200 this year, were given priority and they all chose to pursue their medical degree at the prestigious Madras Medical College (MMC). As is the practice, most of the seats in MMC were over in a jiffy followed by those in Stanley Medical College. While 501 seats were allotted in government medical colleges, one MBBS seat was taken from a self-financing college.
“The closing cutoff for day one of first phase of counselling was 198.5. We will begin allotting seats the following day from this number,” said an official from the DME.
However, the students who were allotted seats were not given an admit card. The move is consonant with the Madras high court directive to the selection committee to go ahead with the counselling but not give any assurance of seats to the students until Monday.
It may be recalled that about 70 students from the current batch had recently moved court demanding that students from previous batches be prevented from participating in the counselling.
“It has been my long-time dream to become a doctor. But despite getting a high cutoff I am yet to know if I will study medicine or not. The uncertainty is hard to take,” said a candidate who secured a top rank this year.