Kolkata, Nov. 6 -- An age-old donors' quota system for undergraduate medical admissions in West Bengal's government medical colleges has come under scrutiny, with allegations that seats originally intended for nominees of philanthropic benefactors are being exploited by influential people and political figures.
The quota was introduced to recognise donors who had contributed land, property or funds to establish or expand medical institutions before nationalisation. The original premise was that such benefactors would nominate deserving members of their families. However, allegations suggest that the system has gradually turned into a means of securing medical seats through payments, with descendants of donors reportedly selling nominations to candidates who have no connection with the original benefactors.
A writ petition filed at Calcutta High Court by a medical aspirant alleges that admissions under the donors' quota were conducted through an offline process, bypassing the universal online merit-based counselling system. The petitioner claims that candidates with lower merit were favoured over more deserving aspirants and that the West Bengal Medical Counselling Committee (WBMCC) kept these seats outside the regular counselling process.
The practice, allegedly prevalent during the erstwhile Trinamool Congress government when political leaders secured admissions for relatives, is said to have continued under the BJP regime despite its promise of administrative transparency. Questions have also been raised about the role of Swasthya Bhawan and alleged violations of Supreme Court directives and National Medical Commission (NMC) guidelines. There are nine undergraduate donors' quota seats in government medical colleges.
Documents submitted to the court show that the state Health department and WBMCC recently issued guidelines reserving seats in premier institutions, including Calcutta Medical College, R.G. Kar Medical College and Calcutta National Medical College, for recommendations from specified donors and trusts. These include Madan Puraskar Guthi and Sura Shamsher Jung Bahadur Rana of Nepal, legal heirs of MC Law, Pratima Devi Law and MN Dey, and Subarna Banik Samaj.
With private medical education costing between Rs 1.25 crore and Rs 1.60 crore for the entire course, apprehensions have emerged that securing a government medical seat through the donors' quota could involve even higher payments, raising serious questions about transparency and merit in medical admissions.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.