Though admissions to the Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC) will be done online, this will be the last year that the institution will conduct its own entrance examination on May 6. From 2013, the National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) will be conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and students will have to mark their preference for admission to AFMC, director-general of Armed Forces Medical Services (DG-AFMS), Lt Gen H L Kakria said on Wednesday.

The MBBS course will begin in August and admissions will be done online, Kakria said. He was in the city to participate in the 60th armed forces medical conference and the 50th armed forces medical research committee meeting.

AFMC was not willing for the government’s common entrance test for admissions to the MBBS course, citing specific criteria for selection of students in the armed forces. However, according to Air Marshal G S Joneja, Commandant, AFMC, the college will still have a say in the selection of the students who clear NEET. “We will have our aptitude tests to assess whether the candidate is suitable,” he said.

The DG-AFMS said the Medical Council of India (MCI) has increased the number of post-graduate seats and efforts will be underway to create a core of specialists. Several nursing colleges that run diploma courses will now conduct degree programmes, he added.

Meanwhile, the academic committee meeting also discussed several issues including objective measurement and assessment methodology of efficiency in teaching and training. According to Kakria, the medical research committee will examine 167 research proposals and award winning projects like anthropometric changes related to age in air crew, and compatibility in aircraft cockpit and others will be discussed.