Medical entrance may come back

Kochi: Showing Kerala’s preparedness to conduct its own entrance exam for MBBS and BDS, the Commissioner of Entrance Examination has issued a notification giving clear indications in this regard. The notification now available on the CEE’s website dated September 25 has scheduled the engineering entrance exam on April 21 and 22 next and the medical entrance on April 23 and 24. This is in contrast to the notification for 2013 where it was specifically said that entrance examination was for ‘medical allied and agriculture, veterinary and fisheries courses’ only and not for MBBS and BDS. The notification for 2013 was forthright in the light of Kerala’s decision to join the National eligibility-cum- Entrance Test (NEET) announced by the Medical Council of India as a single nationwide examination for MBBS and BDS admissions. Kerala successfully admitted students based on NEET 2013 rank list which was completed on September 26. In July this year, the Supreme Court struck down NEET in a majority bench decision. However, the Centre and MCI are now approaching the SC for a review of its decision. The Kerala Entrance Commissioner has issued a notification without taking chances. When contacted, health secretary Dr K Elangovan said that Kerala was awaiting the result of the review petition in the SC. “Kerala had been taking a stand in favour of NEET for so long and will go for own entrance only if there is no NEET. This year Kerala joined NEET and students and parents didn’t have any complaints about it,” he said.