Thiruvananthapuram, Friday 22 May 2009: The State government and managements of 52 self-financing colleges offering nursing, pharmacy, B.Sc. (MLT) and BPT courses have come to an agreement to retain last year’s fee structure.

Of the total seats for each course, 50 per cent will be filled from the merit-based rank list prepared by the government and 35 per cent from separate rank lists to be prepared by the managements. The balance 15 per cent will be quota for non-resident Keralites.

Health Minister P.K. Sreemathy told presspersons after discussions with the managements that the rank lists would be prepared on the basis of the marks obtained in the Plus Two or equivalent examinations. The LBS Centre would prepare the rank list for the government.

The Minister said the government had approved the prospectus for the courses and the same would be published on the web site www.lbscentre.org shortly. Application forms would be available from June 1 at the the LBS Centre and the colleges.

The government had also held talks with medical and dental colleges willing to enter into agreements with it. It had been agreed that 50 per cent of the seats would be filled from the rank list prepared by the Commissioner of Entrance Examinations. She said steps were on to reduce the staff shortage in government medical colleges.