Kolkata: Calcutta High Court on Wednesday directed the state Health department to secure an undergraduate medical seat in the Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital for an aspirant, who had hearing impairment and was denied quota seat under Person with Disability category. The victim, Maheboob Laskar, a resident of Mograhat in South 24-Parganas moved to the Calcutta High Court a few days ago and filed a petition after he was denied quota seat under Person with Disability (PwD) category on the basis of a report submitted by the SSKM Hospital. Alauddin Mondal, petitioners lawyer, argued in the court that the method by which he was tested in the SSKM was faulty as there was no appropriate assistive device in the hospital to measure the level of his impairment. Laskar, cleared the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) and sought an admission under PwD category. Laskar in his Writ petition at the Calcutta High Court alleged that SSKM Hospital flouted the Medical Council of India (MCI) guideline where it said that all the candidates with hearing impairment must be examined with assistive device at the hospitals. However, it was not done at the SSKM Hospital due to the unavailability of the device. The candidate eventually failed to achieve more than 40 per cent disability during his examination at the hospital, which was one of the prerequisites to secure an admission in the undergraduate medical courses in the state. The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday instructed the senior officials of the health department to secure an admission for the petitioner at the Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital (CNMCH). The MCI Gazette notification dated February 5, 2019 says that "Persons with hearing disability of more than 40 per cent may be made eligible to pursue graduate medical education and may be given reservation, subject to the condition that hearing disability is brought to a level of less than the benchmark of 40 per cent with the aid of assistive devices".

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