NEET-PG row at KNRUHS: Students counter VC's statements to media

The university currently faces two different issues. While one matter is being investigated by police, students blame the university for their plight in the second matter 
This is what is happening | (Pic: Edexlive)
This is what is happening | (Pic: Edexlive)

The Kaloji Narayana Rao University of Health Sciences (KNRUHS) NEET-PG Counselling row has become muddled up even further. The students have been complaining about and have even approached legal authorities regarding the matter. And after the students, it is now the Vice-Chancellor of the University, Dr B Karunakar Reddy had organised a press conference at the Directorate of Public Health (DPH) office in Koti, Hyderabad, on Friday, April 22, to discuss the affairs.

The university currently faces two different issues. The first is regarding the suspected blocking of 45 PG Medical seats by high-ranking students. This issue has been going on for more than a month now. And the second problem concerns meritorious students who have lost their eligibility to appear for further MCC (Medical Counselling Committee) Counselling. This issue started on March 31, 2022, the date when the AIQ Mop-Up Round was announced for NEET-PG Counselling, 2021.

Regarding the matter of blocked seats, the KNRUHS VC has stated that no seats have been lost to the students and the university is trying to sort the issue out. The VC clarified that the suspected students had been asked to appear on a specific date with their original certificates, after court orders were issued to the university to register the students. But two of these students claimed that they hadn’t approached the court.

As confusion over the matter still prevails, Dr Harshika, a junior doctor from KNRUHS, has stated that the seats were indeed blocked. “It is clear that they had blocked the seats,” she says and adds, “Now they are just trying to get media’s compassion." She also says that sooner or later the matter will come to light.

Then, speaking about the other incident of students having lost their eligibility to participate in further rounds of NEET-PG Counselling, she brings out her grievances. Dr Harshika is one of the many who had secured a seat in the State Round-2 Counselling of NEET-PG 2021. However, they allege that KNRUHS had asked them to appear for the NEET-PG AIQ Mop-Up Round because of which they forfeited their seats. And later, when the All India Mop-Up was cancelled by the Supreme Court over quota issues, these students were in a fix. They could neither get their secured seats back nor could they participate in further Counselling rounds.

Talking of this matter at the press conference on Friday, the VC stated that the students had not heeded the MCC Advisory that warns the students who have secured seats in the State Round against participating in the All India Mop-Up Round. Dr Harshika, however, is miffed by the VC’s words and says, “There were a hundred mistakes in his speech that I could point out. He told that the students did not follow the MCC Advisory. But the MCC Advisory is not only for the students. It is for the State Council, the authorities and the DME (Director of Medical Education) also. But they were the ones who disregarded it and they allowed us to appear for the AIQ Mop-Up Round.” In an earlier interview, Dr Harshika and her fellow junior doctor Abhinav G had stated that the university had actually encouraged them to forgo their seats and appear for the All-India Round.

“He is lying now,” Dr Harshika alleges, countering the VC’s words at yesterday’s conference. “They don’t want to give us the seats,” she adds. These junior doctors have been in a tussle with KNRUHS to get their secured seats back, but the university has not shown any compliance to these demands and has decided to conduct a State Mop-Up Round as well. When asked her opinion as to why the university has been seeming reluctant to offer them seats, Dr Harshika says, “More the number of vacant seats, the more the number of seats he (the VC) can sell. It is as simple as that.”

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