Andhra Pradesh has been included in the national pool with regard to the seats in the undergraduate and postgraduate medical courses, Minister for Health Kamineni Srinivas has said.
In a statement released from New Delhi on Tuesday, Dr. Srinivas said Telangana and Jammu Kashmir had also been included in the NEET national pool.
Andhra Pradesh has been exempted from Article 371D as was agreed in advance, he said.
Earlier, Article 371 D was seen as an obstacle for the State joining the national pool, but that problem had been resolved, he said. Telangana was able to join the national pool following in the foot steps of Andhra Pradesh, he said.
The State would be exempted from Rule 371D from the coming academic year. This would allow the Medical Universities of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana to invite candidates from all over the country for counselling to fill seats.
Consent given
The State government had already given consent to the Centre to fill 15% (285 seats) of the MBBS seats of the State from the national pool. The students from the State would have a chance to compete for 4,482 seats in the national pool.
The State had only 660 PG seats against the 13,872 all over the country.
While 50% of the PG seats (330) would be included in the national pool, the candidates in the State would be able to compete for the 7,236 seats in the national pool.
To meet Nadda
The Minister in his two-day visit is scheduled to meet Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda to discuss the issue of the Fathima Institute of Medical Sciences.
