Christian Medical College (CMC) Vellore Suspends Medical Admissions

Christian Medical College (CMC) Vellore has suspended the medical admissions for the current academic session as it could not follow its own process for the admission to medical and super speciality courses due to the implementation of NEET by the central government. Officials of CMC revealed that the centre’s decision to admit students based on NEET score undermined the reputation of the institute.

CMC Vellore used to conduct a series of tests and interviews for the candidates who applied for MBBS courses and super speciality courses in order to check whether the candidates have the required aptitude to be deemed qualified and suitable for the medical profession. It followed a three-day admission process to shortlist medical course candidates and conducted aptitude tests and interacted with applicants to judge their commitment to serve in rural areas.

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An official associated with CMC Vellore pointed that checking the leadership qualities and commitment of a candidate towards the society is essential to consider while selecting candidates for medical and super speciality courses. Admitting students based on NEET exam does not leave any scope for holding personal interaction with the candidates before granting admission.

At CMC Vellore, 15% of seats are reserved for candidates belonging to General Category while 85% seats are reserved for the students belonging to the Christian community. After the completion of the course, the students had to serve in hospitals run by Christian missionaries for at least two years.

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According to Article 30(1) of Indian Constitution, minorities, both religious and linguistic, have the right to establish and administer the educational institutes as per their choice.

Usually, the admission process at CMC Vellore is concluded by the month of July. With no structure and support as such, the decision to suspend the admission process for the current academic session was taken, even though the SC had directed Tamil Nadu Govt. to maintain law and order in the state. Moreover, there was no clarity on NEET applicability in Tamil Nadu until the last week of August 2017. From 2017 onwards, the Supreme Court issued a directive that admission to all medical colleges will be on the basis of NEET scores. The top 20 medical colleges in India adhered to this directive and have released their cut-offs diligently. CMC Vellore, considered as one of the top MBBS colleges in India had raised reservations against this directive.

On the other hand, the admission process for postgraduate medical courses was completed as per the internal admission procedure of CMC Vellore.

Some of the top BDS & MBBS colleges in India which have implemented NEET guidelines include:

• Maulana Azad Medical College
• VMMC & Safdarganj Hospital
• University College of Medical Sciences
• Seth G. S. Medical College
• Lady Hardinge Medical College
• King George Medical College
• Govt. Medical College

With the implementation of NEET, 500 Super Speciality Seats have remained vacant across MBBS & BDS colleges in India and the doctors have demanded a third round of counselling process. Amidst this confusion, SC has called for new guidelines to avoid last minute litigations.