Kamineni Institute of Medical Sciences denies seat despite paying fees

Hyderabad: A doctor from Mumbai has alleged that she was refused admission to the M.Ch. (urology) course at the Kamineni Institute of Medical Sciences, though she had been allotted a seat through the counselling sessions conducted by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), due to uncertainty regarding a fee hike.

Dr Sonam Manohar Devlekar, MS (general surgery), says that she was denied a seat despite having paid Rs 24 lakh for admission.

As per DGHS rules, any college which denies a student admission due to fee-related causes may be barred. Though the AP government has released orders regarding a fee hike, the TS government has not. “Any college which implements a fee hike may lose recognition from the Medical Council of India,” says Dr Karunakar Reddy, vice-chancellor of the Kaloji Narayana Rao University of Health Sciences.

Dr Devlekar says that she was allotted a seat in the second round of NEET-SS counselling. 

“My seat was withdrawn on the last day though I was ready to take admission,” she says. She alleges that the management sold seats for crores of rupees last year.

She says that though the official fees were Rs 7.5 lakh, she was asked to sign an undertaking and pay Rs 24 lakh against a government order that has not yet been issued. 

“When I informed the medical and dental counselling officials about this, they directed the college to give me a seat with Rs 7.5 lakh as the admission fees. I showed the Institute officials the letter and waited from 11 am to 4 pm outside the principal’s office.” she says.

“At 4.15 pm, the principal told me the seat had been withdrawn, but he was not ready to give me that in writing. A whole year of mine has been wasted,” she added.

Dr Devlekar says that she will not leave the college premises until she is given the seat. She and her family are waiting at the institute.

Dr G. Srinivas, the general secretary of the Health Reforms Doctors Association, said, “We are meeting with the principal secretary and the health minister on Friday to submit a representation regarding this issue.” 

“How can a college withdraw a seat after counselling? It’s a crime against the student. If a college is not interested in giving out the seat, it should withdraw it before counselling begins. This means that medical colleges are not following the regulations of the Telangana Admission Fee Regulatory Committee (TAFRC),” the secretary further said.

Despite several attempts, officials of the Kamineni Institute of Medical Sciences remained unavailable for comment.