Seat matrix delay worries medical PG students

The government has postponed the counselling of PG medical seats to be conducted by Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS), but the Directorate of Medical Education failed to arrive at the seat sharing ratio and the seat matrix. Although the Medical Education Minister announced last week that the seat matrix will be decided by April 19, the Medical Education Department officials said on Monday that it would take two more days to finalise the seat matrix.

The government PG medical seats had to be filled first followed by the private medical college PG seats, well before the completion of the All India Medical counselling. But with the delay in announcing the seat matrix, the Consortium of Medical, Engineering, and Dental colleges of Karnataka (COMED-K) has already conducted the first round of counselling for PG medical courses. The final round of counselling has been scheduled for April 22.

According to the Supreme Court Judgement in 2005 in the Mridul Dhar-Amit Gupta case, the second round PG counselling for all-India seats will have to be conducted on completion of counselling of PG seats in every State. The second round of all India counselling is scheduled to begin on April 21.

An RGUHS official said the delay in the commencement of PG counselling in Karnataka will affect students in the State and across the country. Even if the government announces the seat matrix, a minimum of 72 hours of notice has to be given to students eligible for the RGUHS PG counselling.

 Dr Vasanth Kumar, Registrar, RGUHS and in-charge PGET 2010 counselling, told Deccan Herald that the varsity was ready to conduct the counselling anytime, but had so far not received any communication from the Government or the Directorate of Medical Education on the seat matrix.