NEET must for admission in pvt medical colleges too: Govt

Thiruvananthapuram: The State government Tuesday made the National Eligibility-Cum-Entrance Test held by the CBSE mandatory for admissions to the private medical colleges in the state.

An ordinance to this effect was issued considering the Supreme Court order making NEET rank mandatory for admissions to all the medical colleges and regulate them for the private colleges of the state, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told reporters here.

The Kerala Medical Education (Regulation and Control of Admission to Private Medical Institutions) Ordinance 2017 aims to regulate admissions and fees structure in the private medical colleges and to ensure reservations to the Backward and the SC/ST communities. With this, the admissions to the government and the private medical colleges in Kerala will be totally merit-based and on the basis of the ranking in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test.

The admissions for MBBS and BDS courses would be from the NEET list, while for other medical and para-medical courses, the government entrance test would be the criteria for admissions.

A special cabinet meeting yesterday gave the nod to promulgate the ordinance, which also received the Governors approval.

An Admission and Fee Regulatory Committee with a retired Supreme Court or a high court judge as its chairperson will be constituted for admissions to the medical and dental colleges.

The committee will have the representatives from the government as well as the Medical Council of India, a press release said.

It would decide the fees as per the apex court directions, the release added.

With the Supreme Court stating that there should be standardisation of fees structure, discussions were held with various political parties and the private medical college managements in the state before deciding to bring out the ordinance, the release added.