With back to back counselling dates for Masters in Dental Surgery (MDS) in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, the aspirants for the seats in the North are upset as they are left with little choice.
The counselling is being held on the basis of the result of the National Entrance and Eligibility Test (NEET) that was held on 7 January and the result was declared in the last week of January. Those who have cleared the examination have been left with little choice but to deposit the huge amount of fee in whichever college they get the seat first.
Managements of private dental colleges have played their cards cleverly by fixing the counselling dates in such a manner that the aspirant does not have too much of choice.
Although MCC is conducting the counselling for total of 972 seats but only about 230 MDS seats are available in various Government Dental Colleges of the country which are in central pool and to be filled through All India Quota (AIQ). The remaining seats are in private deemed universities and central universities. More than 18,000 candidates are eligible for appearing the counselling.
The counselling for MDS seats of Haryana is at Rohtak on 4 April while that of Punjab is on 5 April at Faridkot. The counselling of Himachal Pradesh at Shimla has been rescheduled on 9 April. Candidates blame the state governments for have asked the aspirants to be physically present at the counselling instead of doing the exercise online.
The situation in J&K is worst where only 12 MDS seats are available Candidates of J&K who have done their BDS from the state are not eligible for admission in Government dental colleges outside the state as J&K does not contribute any seat in the central quota. Senior educationists blame that lowering merit to such an extent will degrade the dental profession and allege that the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has done this under the pres