In the wake of the Supreme Court making NEET the single mandatory entrance test for admissions to medical colleges across the country, several private medical colleges, and even some state governments, have sought to spread fears about the new system, trying with all their might to, at the very least, put off the inevitable to a later date. On the contrary, it’s time we moved to the NEET system immediately because it cuts out the vested interests that have ruled the roost in medical education so far and benefits students, parents and the society at large.
The brisk trade in medical seats is one of India's biggest rackets, one that we are all aware of, but powerless to subdue completely. Each year, students are shuttled across the country, in a very expensive, tedious procedure, to attend the array of medical entrance exams in the hope that one will click. This procedure worked wonderfully for private college managements, who have been able to cash in on the rush for seats. That is why private colleges do not want the single entrance test system. The Supreme Court's refusal to put off NEET, however, comes as a relief.
The NEET will bring some much-needed transparency to the admission process. I hope they introduce a similar system for post-graduate students, too. India has a large number of medical colleges -- over 350, the majority of which are privately run. All of them have their own entrance tests and manipulate the system so that they can sell seats to the highest bidder, in collusion with authorities concerned. As a result, merit takes a back seat, with dangerous consequnces.
It is a crime, for starters, against innocent students who have put everything they have into getting a medical seat. They are burdened by dozens of entrance exams, the dates of which sometimes clash. And at the end of it all, seats are not even allocated as per merit.
If NEET is held in an honest, transparent fashion, these problems will be resolved. But it will still not eliminate the problem of differential fee structures across medical colleges. However, if due recognition is given to the investment and facilities provided by private medical colleges, a consensus can be hit upon to establish an uniform fee structure.
At the root of the medical education racket is the huge demand-supply mismatch. It can be set right by using government district headquarter hospitals to set up medical colleges in every district, perhaps through a PPP model. Corporate hospitals can also be equipped with good teaching staff and facilities for medical training. The NEET could well be the first step to rooting out the racket that India's medical admission process has become.
