Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences in Patna. Telegraph picture

Patna, July 17: A fortnight after getting permission from Medical Council of India (MCI) to start the MBBS course, Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) has come out with its academic calendar. It is likely to conduct the all India-level entrance test for admission on August 21.

Usually medical colleges take about six-seven months to start the session after inviting applications. IGIMS director Dr Arun Kumar admitted that completing the admission process on time was a big challenge. But he said efforts were being made to complete the exercise by September 15. IGIMS authorities are keen to complete at least the first admission counselling by August 31, the deadline set by Supreme Court.

Kumar told The Telegraph: “The detailed prospectus for admission would be uploaded on our website www.igims.org on Tuesday afternoon. Thereafter, aspirants can start applying online or send their application forms through post. The last date for submitting the forms would be August 20.”

The registration fee for filling up the application forms would be Rs 1,500 for the general category students and Rs 750 for those in the SC/ST category.

Kumar said out of total 100 seats, 15 would go to the students clearing the CBSE-All India Pre-Medical Test (AIPMT). Five seats would be reserved for NRI students.

The admission test would be conducted for the remaining 80 seats. Of them, 70 seats would be reserved for the aspirants belonging to Bihar (state domicile).

“Of the 70 seats reserved for the aspirants from Bihar, two-three seats would go to the wards of IGIMS employees. But they would also have to clear the entrance test which would be conducted in Patna, Bhagalpur and Muzaffarpur in the state. The questions would be objective type on the pattern of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences entrance examination,” Kumar said.

The aspirants taking the admission test would be issued online admit cards because there would not be enough time to send them by post. “The admit cards would be posted online between August 15 and 20. There would also be a helpline to assist the aspirants in case they face any kind of difficulty,” Kumar said.

The institution is planning to declare the result of the entrance test by August 27. But the admission process for the CBSE-AIPMT quota could begin on August 6.

“The second counselling date for CBSE students is August 6. We might also start the counselling for the CBSE-AIPMT students that day,” Kumar said.

According to sources, some of the senior health department officers had suggested to give admission to aspirants on the basis of their standings in the merit list of the Bihar Combined Competitive Entrance Examination (BCECE), as the admission process has to be completed within two months. But health minister Ashwini Kumar Chaubey, a member of the board of governors of the health hub, decided that aseparate admission test should be conducted.

The IGIMS director said the fee structure of the MBBS course would be finalised before the admission prospectuses were released. A meeting of the board of governors of IGIMS would be convened soon to discuss the future course of action.

IGIMS is the seventh government-run and the first autonomous medical college in the state. The sources said IGIMS was ready with infrastructure, resources and faculty to start the first batch of MBBS students but the facilities would have to be expanded from the next year onwards. The state government has promised to approve Rs 500 crore for converting the 450-bed faci- lity into a 500-bed modern centre for medical college and healthcare.