Punjab: Vacant NRI seats to be converted into general category

Patiala: The general category students have a lot to rejoice about as 90% of the NRI quota MBBS seats in 3 government colleges that are bound to fall vacant during the separate counselling on September 15 are bound to come to them.

The 15% category makes for 75 reserved seats in government colleges-15 in Fardikot, 30 in Patiala and Amritsar each.Only 7 NRI’s have qualified in the September 9 test. This may lead to 68 seats falling in the lap of the general pool. Allotments of seats start -16 September.

“All the vacant NRI seats, whether in the government or private colleges, will be converted to general-pool seats and allotted to qualifying students during the counselling,” said Director, Medical Education and Research, Dr Manjit Kaur Mohi, on Monday. A few NRI students who qualified have also secured admissions elsewhere.

Seats haven’t just fallen vacant in government colleges, 60% of the 74 seats in private colleges also don’t have qualifying candidates. The admission there were supposed to be based on National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET).

The provisional merit list on the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS) website shows only 28 NRI candidates in private medical and dental colleges. The qualifying score was 50%.

According to the Principal,Punjab Institute of Medical Sciences, Jalandhar, Ms. Kulbir Kaur, the vacant NRI seats in private colleges could go to the general-pool management quota. “Since the NRIs pay a higher fee, private colleges will lose revenue, but what can be done when the candidates don’t qualify,” she added.