Candidates seeking PG medical seats in the medical colleges in the State this year are in quandary as never before following the notification issued by NTR University of Health Sciences (NTRUHS) at the instance of the State Government for conduct of a separate entrance test for allotment of these seats.

Blood pressure levels of the some of the candidates have gone up because it is a second test for them as they had already appeared for NEET (National Eligibility-cum- Entrance Test) conducted by Medical Council of India (MCI) all over the country. A second test for the same purpose, “will subject us to risks and odds”, fumed some candidates contacted by this correspondent.

They are tense for another reason. The notification came out in newspapers only on February 11, stipulating that applications online for the test must reach the NTRUHS by 5 pm on February 15 along with a challan for specified amount.

Only four days are given to apply, “a very limited period” compared to the time usually given for the purpose.

As a result of the fresh MCI permission allotting additional PG seats to some of the 36 medical colleges in the State, including 13 in government sector, depending on the infrastructure and faculty available in them, the number of PG seats in Andhra Pradesh has now gone up to 2,500, said an official in the Medical Education Department.

If the Supreme Court validates NEET finally, disposing of petitions filed by States, including AP, seeking postponement of applicability of the NEET to them, the test of the NTRUHS becomes irrelevant, thereby depriving some of those belonging to the State, its benefit.

There is clear possibility of some seats in the medical colleges here going in favour of the candidates belonging to other States based on merit.

Any validation of the State test being held by NTRUHS, on the contrary, will render the NEET test null and void, making some candidates who might have showed extraordinary merit in that, lose the opportunity of getting seats at national level.

Compared to this uncertainty, clarity, however, is available about MBBS seats because all the 5,500 seats of this course in the medical colleges in the State are being filled through the EAMCET-2013.

Defer NEET: TDP

Meanwhile, Telugu Desam leader Dadi Veerabhadra Rao has urged the State government to immediately clear the confusion prevailing among students .

Mr. Rao, who is the Leader of Opposition in Legislative Council, wrote a letter to Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy asking the latter to implement NEET only after overhauling the State syllabus in tune with CBSE syllabus and extending the same to students in Telugu medium.

The students were subjected to a lot of stress as they had to prepare for NEET and EAMCET on the basis of separate syllabi. The NEET should be deferred in the State as the relevant coaching and syllabus was not extended to students, he added.