The Directorate of Medical Education will conduct counselling for allied health science courses offered by the Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical University, from this academic year.
The courses were started by the university during the tenure of S. Geethalakshmi and the counselling was held by the university separately. Last year, the university decided to start undergraduate programmes in allied health science and create a workforce to assist doctors. The university had proposed to launch courses in occupational therapy, optometry, physiotherapy, accident and emergency care technology, cardiac technology, cardio pulmonary perfusion care technology, critical care technology, dialysis technology, medical sociology, nuclear medicine technology, neuro electrophysiology, operation theatre and anaesthesia technology, prosthetics and orthotics, audiology and speech language pathology and fitness and lifestyle modifications. However, only one college in the city had expressed interest in starting a B.Sc. course in occupational therapy. The university conducted counselling separately and the students were admitted.As many as 30 students admitted to the courses were sent to three colleges — Madras Medical College, Stanley Medical College and Kilpauk Medical College — for training.
Director of Medical Education A. Edwin Joe said the directorate had objected to students coming to medical colleges only for training. “We had students in our institutions. Our fees are much lower than the fee levied by the university. It has no hospital to send students for training. We asked how come the university was using the same nomenclature for the courses they offered,” Dr. Joe said. According to him, the DME had decided to streamline admission and had taken up counselling for all programmes.
