NEET MDS Counselling: PG dental aspirants wait for admissions to start

MUMBAI: Aspirants for postgraduate dental courses (MDS) may have to wait for four to five months for their admissions, despite completing their entrance exams. NEET-MDS was held in December and the results were out the same month. But the counselling rounds for all postgraduate medical and dental courses happen simultaneously. Now that NEET-PG has been postponed by four months, aspirants for PG dental courses want the government to de-link their admissions and conduct it soon.
Around 30,000 BDS (dental) graduates appeared for the NEET-MDS conducted for admissions to over 6,500 seats in the country.While the results were out in December, aspirants have been waiting patiently for over four months. An aspirant said that the course is completely neglected by the government. “Since we had a separate exam, why not conduct an independent counselling round for MDS alone. Once admissions are done and we are absorbed in the system, the government will have additional manpower too,” said the aspirant.
The Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) conducts counselling rounds for all medical and dental PG courses in March every year. This year, NEET-PG was scheduled on April 18 but was postponed. The government recently announced that the exam will not be held before August 31. It will also mean the counselling round can be delayed till October too, said another aspirant.
A government official said that the Dental Council of India and the National Medical Commission follow the same counselling schedule for their courses, and the MCC also uses a common software for both admissions. “It will be difficult to de-link these admissions. Also, if MDS counselling rounds are conducted now in the pandemic situation, PG medical aspirants may oppose it too,” said the official.