By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Aug 23: The KSU on Wednesday questioned how candidates from other communities were managing to feature in the open category list for the MBBS seats through the state quota.
In a statement, KSU general secretary Donald V. Thabah said out of the 14 candidates who have been called for screening, only three are local indigenous tribals while the rest are from other communities.
“We have received complaints to the effect that these 11 candidates may not be from Meghalaya and are probably from Assam. There is a suspicion that they might have obtained their documents from Ampati in South West Garo Hills,” Thabah said.
He said the state government should clarify on the points raised by the union.
The KSU also asked the state government to make the Aadhaar and EPIC cards of these 11 “suspicious” candidates public and also reveal the name of the educational institute from where these candidates completed their higher secondary level level studies.
He made it clear that the “open category” is only meant for genuine residents of the state including the ST candidates.
When Khasi students find their place in this category it also paves way for other students to be selected through the Khasi-Jaintia category, he said while adding, “Now students from Khasi-Jaintia and Garo categories will be denied the opportunity to pursue MBBS because of these 11 candidates.”
Meanwhile, Thabah also questioned the decision of the government to announce a walk-in-interview for appointment of 170 Medical & Health Officers (M&HO) and 100 specialist doctors on contractual basis, saying these would affect the doctors from the state who have just completed their MBBS.
“The state government should give first preference to the MBBS doctors from the state and not put them in the same category with the doctors from the rest of the country and even from other states of the Northeast,” Thabah said.
He also questioned why the state government was not permitting the Meghalaya Medical Recruitment Board to conduct the recruitment examinations.