Chaos ruled the first day of the sale of application forms for MBBS and BDS courses in the state on Tuesday, as the Directorate of Medical Education (DME) did not expect the large crowds with the forms being easily downloadable from the Internet.

The DME sold a whopping 11,040 application forms (hard copies alone) across the 17 government medical colleges and one dental college in Tamil Nadu.

There are 1653 seats for MBBS and 85 for BDS. To add to the woes of the students and their parents, they had to wait in the hot sun for the forms, with confusion reigning as the authorities accepted payment by demand draft of a particular bank, which is the norm every year.

Aspirants were heard complaining about having to sit out the lunch hour when the application sale was suspended and not having access to proper restroom facilities.

Candidates for admission to post graduate degree and diploma courses were also called for their first counselling session at KMC on Tuesday.

“There was a huge crowd today because it was the first day of application form sale. The crowds should reduce tomorrow.

Students can download the application forms from www.tnhealth.org and submit it with a DD of `500 after filling it in,” said Dr Sukumar, chairman of the DME’s selection committee.

The department expects to receive around 21,000 applications for medical and dental courses this year.

“We expected the students to download the application forms from the government websites, including www.tn.gov.in, instead of queuing up at the colleges,” said Dr Vinayakam, director of medical education. “We expect over 18,000 students to apply overall,” he said.

Bad planning, inept handling add to mess

Bad planning and inept handling, led to frustration among parents and wannabe doctors who had lined up Tuesday at the Madurai Medical College (MMC) to purchase application forms for admission to MBBS and BDS courses, even as college principal, Dr Edwin Joe, said they have sold all the available 1,500 forms and have none to sell on Wednesday. “We will get additional forms by Wednesday evening and sell them on Thursday.”

While the lack of enough counters was the primary cause for frustration, the closure of two counters (one for Adi Dravidars and the other for general category) simultaneously for lunch time added to it.

Booma, who had come from Hosur, said, “We came at 11.30 am. It’s now 3 pm and we are yet to get the form, mainly because of the wrong attitude.

They insist on leaving for lunch. Why can’t they make alternative arrangements? They should show some consideration as people have come from faraway places also.”

Bala Janani, a plus-two student from P.A. Chidambara Nadar School, Virudhunagar, said, “It took one hour to get the DD. I hope I get the application today.” She said she was confident of securing an MBBS seat.

The problem was compounded for many who didn’t buy the demand draft while coming to buy the applications and ended up crowding the Indian Overseas Bank located upstairs. Mr L. Palaniappan, senior manager, said the bank issued 572 DDs Tuesday.

Lack of proper arrangements irked many. “They should have opened more counters and arranged for drinking water,” said Praveen Raj, a student of Mahatma Gandhi matriculation higher secondary school who had come to buy the form for himself.

Mr S. Tamilarasan, who had come to buy the form for his daughter and had spent almost four hours in the queue by 2.45 pm, said lack of enough application forms was worrying parents and students.