Even as the process of National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for postgraduate medical courses (NEET-PG) is under way, the State will have another parallel test to be conducted by the Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka (COMEDK).
While the NEET-PG will be held between November 23 and December 6, the COMEDK test is on February 3, 2013.
Court stay
The COMEDK, in a press release in Bangalore Friday, said the decision to hold a separate test is a result of a stay obtained by the Karnataka Private Medical and Dental College Association (KPM and DCA) from the Karnataka High Court, which was later upheld by the Supreme Court. The KPM and DCA had challenged the Medical Council of India’s (MCI) decision to conduct a single entrance test for admissions to medical and dental courses.
This means that admissions to 12 medical and 25 dental colleges will be determined by the separate exam conducted by COMEDK.
“By October 29, we will come to know the status. If the stay order is vacated, then this timetable will have to be changed. Otherwise, we can conduct the exam on the scheduled date,” COMEDK executive director A.S. Srikanth said.
As the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER) PG entrance examination is on the second Sunday of February, the COMEDK exam is scheduled on the first Sunday.
Online applications will commence in the first week of December.
Extra testing day
Meanwhile, Prometric, the testing services provider for NEET-PG, said an additional testing session has been added by the National Board of Examinations (NBE). November 24, which was previously a non-testing day, has now been added to the schedule. As on Friday, over 85,000 candidates had completed online registration, a press release said.
