A number of students who attended the first round of Comed-K’s medical and dental counselling on Thursday were  from other states. They realised their dream here, after they failed to get into medical colleges in their states, despite repeated efforts.

There was a student who had spent five years preparing for the Pre-Medical Tests (PMT), after unsuccessful attempts every year.

Govind Chhinpa hailing from Bikaner, Rajasthan who had secured the fourth rank in Comed-K entrance test has taken the PMT five times and has followed every unsuccessful attempt by preparing for the tests for the following year.

“I dedicated all my time by putting in effort every year- preparing” he said. Son of a diary farmer, this 24-year-old’s dream is to to become an Orthopedic surgeon. “My parents supported me as it was their dream to see me as a doctor”, he says.

Ravindra Singh, ranked fifth, hails from Lucknow, UP. He has attempted the UP Combined Pre Medical Test thrice and prepared arduously to get into medical college each year. Pramod Kumar Dubey from Basti, UP  says he has attempted the PMT four times before securing a seat in Karnataka.

The students say the general merit seats in their states are only a few. The competition is hard to beat, they add.  Others even blamed the bungled results. “Most of the results were wrong this year and have been sent for revaluation” says Ravindra Singh. There are only 300 general merit seats in UP unlike Karnataka, he quips. “In UP and Bihar, candidates keep trying till they get a seat”, adds his brother.

Nearly 20 percent of students who appeared for day one of counselling have cleared their Plus II between 1998 and 2000 and another 20 per cent of students have cleared these test between 2001 and 2004, says documents verification officer Narayana Gowda. Their oldest student on Thursday had cleared the Class 12th exams in 1997.

On the occasion, eight students whose certificates required re-verification by the council refused to surrender their certificates and finger prints of three students did not match.

KIMS FAVOURED

Kempegowda Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) emerged the favourite amongst the top ranking students of COMED-K, on the first day of seat selection for medical and dental stream on Thursday.

Sixty  seats each of KIMS and M S Ramiah Medical College were taken on end of Day 1, along with 10 seats of  Dr B R Ambedkar Medical College. The students however were unhappy with the fact that KIMS had asked for a bank guarantee for the fees for the next three and a half years.

Deputy Director for Testing, COMED-K, Dr Ashok explained that step was taken to protect the interests of the institution, as the guidelines of the Medical Council of India (MCI) if the student leave after a year, they cannot fill up the seats.

BULLETIN

Seats available on June 22

Medical: 408

Dental: 830

Rank 901 to 2000 have been slotted to appear for seat selection on Friday at 8 am.