Agartala: TheUnion Health Ministry denies further reducing the eligibility criteria for northeastern tribal and scheduled caste (SC) students for admission to medical colleges. The announcement was made by a Tripura government official on Friday i.e. on August 26, 2011.
As per Medical Council of India (MCI), northeastern tribal and SC categories desirous of pursuing MBBS must secure a minimum of 40 % marks in their class 12 board examinations. Sources have informed that, however, Tripura government and various political parties of the northeast had been requesting the central government and the MCI to further reduce this eligibility limit.
As per sources, the Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad in a letter to Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar has communicated the centre's decision to follow the MCI guidelines. Mr Azad said though the health ministry agrees in principle that there is a need to make enabling conditions to encourage the underprivileged sections of the society, in so far as medical education is concerned it is felt that diluting the qualifying criteria would neither be feasible not desirable.
