Posted By :  Admin1

A doctor from Pune was refused a super speciality medical seat at LH Hiranandani Hospital in Powai after it was discovered that the hospital had already admitted another candidate in the previous admission round for the same spot. The aspirant was granted one of the two positions available for the Doctorate of National Board (DrNB) in cardiology during the third or special counseling round. Nevertheless, he was in for a harsh surprise when the hospital authorities disclosed that the seat had already been occupied during the second round. The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), responsible for the admission process, subsequently criticized the hospital for failing to update the enrollment of the other candidate on the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) portal. 

In an email sent to both the hospital and the candidate, the ministry informed that the candidate would now be assigned one of the remaining vacant seats following the special counseling round. Nevertheless, the candidate may have to compromise with a less desirable option later or, in a worst-case scenario, face the possibility of not being admitted anywhere at all. "Without this error, I would have likely obtained one of the other seats on my preference list. Now, those seats are likely to be taken in this round," he expressed. The hospital, represented by a spokesperson, declined to comment on the accusation of 'inaction' leading to the mix-up and stated that the ministry's decision is conclusive. The current admissions process for 3,068 super specialty seats at medical institutions across the country has been marred by complaints of seat reassignments due to institutes failing to report accurately. Recently, the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) invalidated the provisional seat allocations for the special round and released a revised list of allocations after uncovering instances where several super specialty colleges admitted candidates offline without updating their records. After the debacle, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) instructed the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences, responsible for overseeing super specialty programs, to deactivate its online portal for joining and registration (OPJR) for reporting admissions, citing that it was causing confusion for the institutes.