Thalassemia patient’s long battle for MBBS admission

Jain had filled the NEET form in March. Since thalassemia wasn’t included as a disability at the time, he applied under the general category. But once the Rights of Persons with Disability (PWD) Act was notified in April, he filed an application before the university in July to change his category from general to PWD. According to Jain, this was accepted by IPU on July 7.

His name was also put in the PWD category list on the IPU website. Since Jain’s name did not appear in the first list of counselling, he went for the second one on August 8. However, after the counselling, his name remained missing from the list of students who had made it to the university.

Jain then moved the HC on August 26. With the matter pending in court, he appeared for the mop up round of counselling on August 27.

“That’s when he came to know that his name did not figure in the PWD category at all — even though he had changed the status from general to disabled category. A patient with thalassemia cannot be denied admission,” said V K Jain, his father, who plans to file a contempt petition in court.

On September 7, IPU filed an affidavit in court stating that while thalassemia is recognised as a disability, they would require permission from the Medical Council of India (MCI) to give admission to Jain. With no response from the MCI, the university had converted the PWD category seat into a general one and all seats had been filled, it said.

“On August 9 itself, all seats which remained vacant in the PWD category were reverted to the parent category. This was after the first round of counselling. This fact was well-known to Jain and he chose to file this writ petition only on August 26, which is a huge delay as a back-to-back fight for these seats is always on, and the moment they are notified to be vacant, they are filled in by students who are already in queue,” IPU stated in court.

The MCI, which was made party to the case, then stated that a person cannot be admitted after the NEET deadline, and that it is yet to decide if thalassemia can be considered a disability.

But the court struck down the MCI’s argument, on the ground that the the Act was notified in April itself. The High Court, citing the Supreme Court order on thalassemia patient Sruchi Rathore, delivered in August, asked IPU to give admission to Jain.

Rathore had sought admission under the PWD quota, and the SC had asked the Chhattisgarh government to give her admission even though she did not appear for counselling.

The court asked IPU to give Jain a seat either in Vardhman Mahavir Medical College and Safdarjung Hospital, North Delhi Municipal Corporation Medical College and Hindu Rao Hospital, or Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar Medical College and Hospital, which have seats vacant under the PWD category. IPU officials could not be reached for a comment.