TN health dept offering counselling to NEET aspirants

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Health Department is providing mental health counselling for students who appeared for NEET examination on Sunday.

Health Minister Ma Subramanian inspected the counselling being undertaken by the 104 medical service help center at the DMS campus.

This comes after the death of a 17-year-old from Ariyalur who killed herself a day before the NEET, fearing failure in the exam. After several instances of students’ death, the State Health Department is conducting counselling for all.

As many as 1,42,286 students from Tamil Nadu appeared for the NEET examination on Sunday, which is higher than last year when 1,10,971 students appeared for the exam. The Health Minister said that all the students are being given counselling, particularly the students who studied in government schools and government-aided schools.

"The list of 17,567 students who appeared for the exam for the second time was also taken into account as they are also being given special importance during the counselling. Not only students but mental health experts are also talking to the parents of the students," he said.

Talking about the 7.5 per cent quota for MBBS, BDS courses provided by the government to the students from government schools last year, Ma Subramanian said that 445 students were given admission for MBBS course, including 324 students from government school and 12 students from private schools. As many as 110 students were admitted to BDS course, with 13 students from government schools and 97 students from private schools. A total of 555 students have benefitted from the same. Therefore, Tamil Nadu government is concerned about the welfare of the students who appeared in NEET this year and is continuously providing mental health counseling to the students," he added.

He also urged the parents and students to contact the toll free number 104 of the State Health Department to get the mental health counseling if they experience any form of distress.