No Big Rush for Siddha Courses

TIRUNELVELI: Only a handful of candidates obtained the applications for various courses under the Indian Medicine system from the Government Siddha College, Palayamkottai on the first day of sale on Monday. That only 76 applications were sold on the first day summed the equation.

A cross-section of students and parents blamed the delay in issuing forms as the reason behind poor patronage. With many of the students having already registered for professional courses like MBBS, engineering, BDS and so on, dilemma was writ large on the faces of aspirants desiring to take up the Indian Medicine courses.

The Directorate of Indian Medicine and Homoepathy started selling forms for BSMS (Bachelor of Siddha Medicine and Surgery), BAMS (Bachelor of Arurveda Medicine and Surgery), BNYS (Bachelor of Naturopathy and Yogic Sciences), BUMS (Bachelor of Unani Medicine and Surgery), and BHMS (Bachelor of Homeopathic Medicine and Surgery) courses on Monday. The forms are available at the Government Siddha Colleges in Palayamkottai and Chennai and other government colleges of Indian Medicine.

“My cut-off is 192 for medicine and I wish to study BSMS. The problem is I have already paid fees for an engineering course at a government college. If I get admitted to BSMS, my fees for the engineering course would be forfeit,” said a girl at the centre.

Echoing similar sentiments, another student said that as she had already registered for BDS course, she needed to be relieved from the stream to choose BSMS.

“The Directorate of Indian Medicine and Homeopathy should start issuing of application forms parallel to other professional courses, so that those wishing to pursue Indian medicine are not harassed,” she said.

“Since students are unsure whether they will get the stream of their choice in the Indian medicine, they register for other courses to avoid losing a year,” said another parent, adding, “Since many arts and science colleges have already begun classes, students who have paid fees, if they get BSMS, would stand the risk of losing fee.”

When contacted, S Soundararajan, principal-in charge of Government Siddha College, said, “We have been urging the government to conduct counselling at par with the MBBS course for several years. This year admission process started earlier. We expect more positive changes in future.”

Source: The New Indian Express