Former Chief Minister of Puducherry V Narayanasamy has called on Chief Minister N Rangasamy, to take immediate action to secure 325 out of 650 seats in the private medical colleges under the government quota and to expedite Centralised Admission Committee (CENTAC) counselling for the same.
In a statement issued Tuesday, August 20, Narayanasamy emphasised the importance of implementing the National Medical Commission's (NMC) mandate, which requires that 50% of private medical colleges be reserved for state government allocation, stated a report by The New Indian Express.
The former CM highlighted that this practice is already in place in neighbouring states such as Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Kerala, where private medical colleges allocate half of their seats to students from their respective states.
Presently, the three private medical colleges in the UT are:
- Pondicherry Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS)
- Sri Manakula Vinayagar Medical College
- Venkateswara Medical College
These colleges offer only 239 seats to the state government.
Narayanasamy pointed out that an additional 96 seats are being held back by the colleges, which is "unacceptable". He urged the Chief Minister to enforce the NMC's order strictly.
Narayanasamy also criticised the government for the delay in starting CENTAC counselling, for fair and transparent admission to medical courses.
