Maharashtra: NEET after effects lead to Health Science course delays

Mumbai: The confusion that prevailed with the introduction of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test(NEET) in all the medical and dental admissions in the state, has also had delaying effects on other Health Science courses .

Admissions to UG courses in Homeopathy (BHMS) Unani (BUMS) and Ayurveda (BAMS), continuing till December, led to the HSC examination results being declared on May 25, last year. The classes for these courses may not even start this month. The rippling effect has the Maharashtra University for Health Sciences (MUHS) deciding to conduct the first year examinations to these courses in November-December, instead of June-July; leading to delay of an entire semester. This has been done by the MUHS, in order to complete the mandatory 240 days of teaching, declared an official.

"The curriculum of health science courses is very vast and the colleges would struggle to complete it before the examination. Given the delay in admissions this year, it won't even be possible," he said.

Admissions to Ayurveda, Unani and Homeopathy colleges usually happen after the medical and dental admissions are completed. This is done, in order to, facilitate admissions of left over students from medical and dental courses , into health science courses.

However, the Supreme Court's April decision, last year to introduce National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) in place of the Common Entrance Test (CET), as a criterion for medical and dental admissions, led to the prolonging of the admission process. This impacted the health science admission process, which could only be initiated after September 30.

"The admission procedure was completely jeopardized this year. Our teachers had to sit idle for a long period," said a Homeopathy College, Principal in the city.

While the admission to private dental and medical colleges in the state took place on the basis of NEET; admissions for the state-run medical and dental colleges, as well as, all the private and government institutes, offering allied health science courses, admitted aspirants through the state conducted CET.

The university and the colleges blame the Central Council of Indian Medicine, under the Ayush Ministry, for having delayed the process of granting approval to colleges.

"The colleges are required to renew their affiliation with the university and CCIM. The ministry of AYUSH took long to grant the affiliations," said a varsity official.

Meanwhile, the students are disheartened by the extension in their academic calendar. "We were hoping for June-July examinations, as we had already prepared for the internal tests. We now stand to lose an entire year," said a Unani College student of the city , as reported by HT.