SHILLONG, Oct 3: The Meghalaya Medical Services Recruitment Board (MMSRB) has dismissed allegations regarding irregularities in the recruitment of staff nurses and ANMs.
MMSRB Member Secretary L Mylliem Umlong addressed the media on Thursday and said the recruitment process was conducted to fill 164 positions for staff nurses and 78 positions for ANMs. A total of 5,603 applications were received for staff nurse posts and 706 applications for ANMs. After completing the due process, admit cards were issued to candidates.
Dr Umlong highlighted that in compliance with an Office Memorandum (OM) issued in 2023, document verification was not conducted prior to the written examination. Instead, candidates were shortlisted based purely on their performance in the written test, with 495 candidates selected for staff nurse posts and 263 for ANM posts.
“At this stage, no document verification was conducted before the exam, as per the guidelines,” Dr Umlong said, mentioning that the final selection will only be based on document verification after the examination results.
The MMSRB also addressed concerns that the initial list of shortlisted candidates was not categorized according to the state reservation policy.
In response, the board published a revised list, which included candidates’ marks and categorization according to the reservation policy. Despite these, further disputes led to a meeting with Health Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh on September 30, where it was decided that roll numbers and marks of all candidates would be published in descending order.
She further reiterated that document verification will be conducted for all shortlisted candidates, and any failure to produce required documents will result in the next candidate on the merit list being considered. The board also acknowledged and corrected errors in the initial list, such as roll numbers appearing twice or being misrepresented.
One of the issues raised by the pressure groups involved a candidate (Roll No. 0597) who allegedly did not appear for the exam but was marked as present and assigned marks.
Reacting to the allegation, Dr Umlong clarified that this was a case of mistaken identity between two candidates with the same roll number, one of whom was an ANM candidate who did appear and scored 51 marks.
Dr Umlong further assured the public that the MMSRB remains committed to a fair and transparent recruitment process. “We are open to addressing any grievances,” she said, encouraging candidates who believe they have been wronged to approach the MMSRB’s grievance redressal cell.
The board has set up a committee to resolve any issues within 10 days of receiving complaints.
