Regionalism or a camouflage for Greed
NEET (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test), the common entrance exam for admission to medical colleges in India, has generated substantial and sometimes heated debate. Honourable Altamas Kabir ji, former Chief Justice of India, in a majority decision had given private medical colleges a gift in 2013 by striking down the Medical Council of India (MCI) mandate to hold combined entrance exam for admission, even in private medical colleges, all over the country.
The debate has now restarted with the MCI and the union ministry of health and family welfare (MOHFW) reconsidering introduction of the common entrance exam. Ms Jayalalithaa and IMA Tamil Nadu were the first off the block to condemn the imposition of NEET. IMA Tamil Nadu President Dr L P Thangavelu said that the Centre must have first brought about a uniform school syllabus across the country to ensure a level playing field for all students. There were different types of educational systems such as Matriculation, Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), State Board and ICSE (Indian Certificate of Secondary Education) with no uniformity in the syllabus at the Plus Two level. With NEET modelled on the CBSE, this would have conferred an unfair advantage on students from North India where the CBSE system is prevalent. Students in Tamil Nadu would have been left at a disadvantage as only a few opted for CBSE in the state, he said.
I strongly disagree with the views of IMA Tamil Nadu State Branch. Regionalism is a political tool to hide the real fact that most politicians would lose substantial capital invested in private medical colleges if NEET is implemented. “CBSE confers an undue advantage to North Indians” is a statement which is rhetoric without substance. Brilliant students have been produced by the Tamil Nadu schooling system and they regularly grab top positions in the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi and the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh. To claim that the schooling system in Tamil Nadu is inferior in any way compared to North India is false propaganda for ulterior motives.
It is interesting to note that political legitimacy is being given to arguments against NEET whereas the reason is pure and simple greed. Our politicians had long ago identified medical education as a cash cow and had invested heavily in setting up these colleges. Most private medical colleges are either owned or have substantial support of major politicians cutting across party lines. So convoluted is the process of accreditation that only those with significant political clout manage to get permission to start a medical college. Money, of course, is needed but without political patronage many such projects have easily been derailed.
Government has meticulously and scrupulously avoided investing in medical colleges and nearly all the increase which has occurred in MBBS and MD/MS seats is in the private sector. Where a good government or an established private medical college which does not indulge in corruption struggles to maintain 50 or 70 MBBS seats, private medical colleges with no scruples are allowed 150 or even 200 seats even though their “ghost” faculty and “guest” patients and “fake” surgeries are known to all. All newspapers are full of bold advertisements from consultants who assure MBBS, MD/MS and even DM seats in these colleges.
Even if the Tamil Nadu Government wants only those who have studied in the state school system to be benefited, this could easily be achieved by selecting 50% (or any figure acceptable) students only from those with Tamil Nadu domicile/schooling but based on the ranking obtained in NEET, for admission to medical colleges in Tamil Nadu. Other states have done this successfully where regional aspirations have been balanced with merit nicely.
Blocking the National Common Entrance Exam helps only the lobby which takes capitation fee for medical education. All private medical colleges in Tamil Nadu should be forced to make it mandatory that 50% seats would be only for Tamil Nadu domicile but again based on merit obtained in NEET.
For the business of sale and purchase of medical seats to continue it is imperative that private medical colleges retain control of the admission process without which manipulation is not possible. Not agreeing to NEET is a desire simply to have power for each college to hold their own entrance exam after having received advance capitation money then rigging the results to favour those who have paid. How does this help any Tamilian?
Dr Neeraj Nagpal
Convenor, Medicos Legal Action Group
Managing Director, MLAG Indemnity
Ex-President, IMA Chandigarh
9316517176, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
www.mlag.in
