The introduction of automation has created chaos in the admission process of private medical colleges, says the Bangladesh Private Medical College Association (BPMCA), while the health authorities argue that the new system will ensure transparency.
With the move, which is the first ever in Bangladesh, candidates are deprived of the opportunity to get admission to colleges based on merit, the BPMCA said.
MBBS/BDS entrance test is held simultaneously across the country as per the rules. After the admission to public medical colleges based on the result, previously there was an opportunity for students to get admitted to private ones of their choice.
This year, changes have been made regarding admission to private medical colleges and automation has been introduced amid strong opposition from stakeholders, the association said.
In this process, candidates were allowed to choose five colleges with priority. Later on, this rule was changed to 60 medical colleges for boys and 66 for girls.
Although the BPMCA raised objections to the new admission process, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) sent text messages to the candidates on June 13 after fixing colleges for them.
Many students said they did not get the opportunity to get admission to the colleges of their choice. Moreover, they were not informed about the procedure the DGHS followed to fix colleges for them.
BPMCA President Mubin Khan said the automation system has created a crisis in admission to private medical colleges. “There is a disappointment among all.”
He said around 49,000 students have passed the medical admission test this year. Of them, only 6,320 candidates applied to the Directorate General of Medical Education (DGME) for private medical college admissions.
There are 6,500 seats in the private medical colleges, meaning less than one student is vying for each seat, Mubin said, adding that there should be five candidates for each seat, as per the admission policy.
“Everything is in a chaotic state. Nowhere in the world there is any example of admitting students by the government to private institutions.”
Under the circumstances, there is no alternative to maintain the previous rules for the sake of the existence of private medical colleges, the BPMCA president said.
He added that every private medical college has an admission committee which also has representatives from the DGHS.
There is no need to introduce the automation system suddenly despite there being a strong admission committee in each college, Mubin said. “Besides, there is already an opportunity to take action in case of any irregularities in the admission process, whereas actions were taken in the past.”
Denying all the allegations, DGME Director Mujtahid Mohammad Hossain told The Business Post on Tuesday that the automation system has been brought to ensure transparency in the admission process.
Choosing 60 or 66 colleges is not an issue here, he said, adding that candidates got colleges based on merit because of their choices.
They got colleges as per serial they gave on a priority basis, Mujtahid added.
