The health department’s decision to issue multiple notifications regarding the counseling has confused us. We don’t understand which notification to follow ~ Deblina Choudhury,  candidate

statesman news service
KOLKATA, 30 JUNE: Multiple notifications issued by the state health department regarding counselling for candidates who have cleared the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) has resulted in confusion among students, as the notifications contradict each other.
In an earlier notification, the Director of Medical Education asked the candidates, who have qualified NEET at the under-graduate level this year, to submit processing fee for counseling within 10 July. But in another notification dated 28 June the department asked the candidates seeking admission to MBBS and BDS courses to submit their processing fee through e-challan within 8 July. 
The department’s decision to advance the date of counselling without any advertisement in the newspaper has created confusion among many of candidates.
Candidates in rural areas, who do not have easy access to the department’s website, have been inconvenienced due to this, as it becomes difficult for them to keep an update on the changes in the schedule.
Till the last year, the central selection committee used to conduct the counselling. To keep the candidates in the loops about the date of counseling, the committee used to give advertisements in newspapers so that candidates in the rural areas have the prior information.
Deblina Choudhury, a candidate who has qualified in NEET in the state quota, said: "The heath department’s decision to issue multiple notification regarding the counseling has confused us. We don’t understand which notification to follow." Confusion prevails among the candidates as there is a single proforma for the residential/domicile certificate whereas there are two categories of candidates. The categories are ~ candidates residing uninterruptedly in the state for a minimum period of 10 years prior to the date of making the application for admission to courses and candidates who or whose parents are permanent residents of the state having their permanent address here.
Even the number of seats in the medical colleges as notified by the department is incorrect as the Medical Council of India is yet to issue permission on some more seats in some of the medical colleges like Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital, Malda Medical College and Hospital, Sagar Dutta Memorial Medical College and Hospital and others. Hence, the successful candidates have no prior knowledge about the exact distribution of seats.