Govt counselling schedule upsets pharma admission

HYDERABAD: The government's move to conduct pharmacy counselling before the conclusion of the final phase of counselling for medicine and dental streams, has attracted criticism from pharma colleges. They claim the decision has resulted in just about 50 per cent of the candidates, who secured Pharma D and B Pharmacy seats, reporting to their colleges.

Lashing out at the government for this skewed counselling schedule, college managements said that it is was done deliberately to save on the reimbursement funds.

“The government tactfully scheduled B Pharma and Pharma D counselling before the medical, dental and agricultural counselling could conclude so that not many candidates join pharma colleges. This way , they are trying to reduce the number of students studying these courses so that they can save on the scholarship reimbursement amount,“ said K Ramadas, president, Telangana Pharmacy Colleges Association.

The college managements have now demanded that the government conduct a third phase of counselling for Engineering, Agricultural and Medical Common Entrance Test (EAMCET-BiPC) candidates, for admissions into Pharma D and B Pharmacy courses.

“Students only come to pharmacy courses after trying their luck at medical, dental, and agricultural courses and that's the reason why not many students have submitted their joining report in their respective colleges so far,“ said Bhaskar Reddy , who owns a city pharmacy college. They urged the government to conduct counselling for all BiPC stream courses under one umbrella, after the counselling for MBBS and BDS courses is complete, at least from next year.

“Next academic year on wards, we request you to conduct all BiPC stream courses counselling under one umbrella after the completion of MBBS and BDS counselling,“ read the letter sent by the pharma colleges association to the Telangana State Council of Higher Education (TSCHE). The TSCHE officials, on the other hand, said that no decision has yet been taken on whether there will be a third phase of pharmacy counselling or not.

This year, Pharmacy colleges saw a marginal dip in the seats as 65 colleges were issued affiliations with an intake of 6,130 by JNTU. Only 52 colleges are offering Pharma D with a total intake of 1,500 seats. Not more than 500 seats have been filled till date.