Tuesday, Jun 23, 2009
Chennai: Counselling for M.Sc (Nursing) seats was cancelled on Monday evening after some misunderstanding regarding minimum qualifications.

Counselling for post-graduate courses in Physiotherapy and Pharmacology, scheduled for Tuesday, has also been cancelled. There are 22 MSc Nursing seats with the State government and 126 seats have been surrendered by private colleges. Confusion arose over a clause in the PG admission criteria for nursing and all the allotments were cancelled.

According to Selection Committee officials, university norms specify that a candidate must have permanent registration with the Nursing Council and at least a year’s experience in a hospital. However, problems arose when it was discovered that many of the candidates had only provisional registration. Selection Committee officials decided to call off the counselling after candidates declared ‘unfit’ protested.

Selection Committee Secretary Sheela Grace said they had no option but to follow the norms prescribed by Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical Varsity. Varsity officials and Nursing Council representatives were apprised of the problem and a solution would be found before the next round of counselling, which was likely to be conducted in July. Vice-Chancellor Meer Mustafa Hussain said the delay in issuing permanent registration was only because of administrative reasons, such as shortage of manpower.

If a student fulfilled all other criteria, he or she could be given admission. Permanent registration was only a formality as students would have the requisite experience. This clarification had been faxed to the Selection Committee and the next round of counselling would iron out all issues.