TN: Doctors protest against NEET

Chennai: The Doctor's forum for people's health staged a protest on November 20 against the central government-mandated National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test(NEET) for undergraduate and postgraduate medical aspirants.

At a meeting held on Friday, the forum said NEET was a difficult bet for students from rural backgrounds as it is set on the CBSE pattern. NEET being made a criteria for medical admission was making it difficult for rural aspirants to get admission in medical colleges the forum further added.

"The Tamil Nadu government has firmly been against NEET. It should take action and file a review petition against the Supreme Court order that brought in NEET," said, General Secretary, S Kasi of the forum told TOI.

The forum raised the following demands on behalf of Post graduate medical aspirants:

• a higher quantum of seats for Tamil Nadu students


• Only 15% seats be made part of the All India Quota( At present 50% allocation)


• No exit exam for MBBS graduates ( as it demotivates those who aspire to practice in primary healthcare centers and other rural medical facilities)

Every year, Tamil Nadu produces over 5,000 MBBS graduates. The State has one of the highest number of medical colleges in the country with 24 State-run medical colleges (including a college attached to Annamalai University) and an equal number of private/deemed medical institutes, as per the Medical Council of India's listing.

Up until 2006, Tamil Nadu had its own entrance exam — the Tamil Nadu Professional Common Entrance Examination — for admission to professional courses, both engineering and medicine. In 2007, the State government decided to do away with it, aiming at equitable access to higher education by basing admissions on class 12 results. It is argued by many that NEET, would invalidate Tamil Nadu's policy.

In Tamil Nadu, the number of students who take the State Board examinations is 60 times more than that of those studying in CBSE stream. Since NEET is based on the CBSE syllabus, Experts have shown concern about how students from the State will fare in the test. Another large concern is that students from other States could get a bigger proportion of seats in government medical colleges in Tamil Nadu.