104 helpline provides mental health counselling to NEET aspirants

CHENNAI: Health Minister Ma Subramanian inaugurated the mental health counselling programme for the students who have appeared for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) in Tamil Nadu this year at the 104 health helpline in the DMS campus on Thursday.

The programme was started in 2020 with counselling sessions being held for medical aspirants with the help of counsellors who are trained in handling distress calls and providing mental health support.

As a result of this, 1,10,971 students in the academic year 2020-21 and 1,45,988 in the academic year 2021-22 have been given mental health counseling through the 104 helpline.

Of these, 424 students who were identified as having high levels of stress were counselled thrice and they were referred to the District Mental Health Psychologists on priority basis and given mental health counseling by them in person.

The Health Minister said that as a continuation of the services, Tamil Nadu has implemented the programme to provide mental health counseling services to the students who have failed in the 12th board exams this year 2022-23.

"A total of 46,932 students who were declared failed in the public examination are being given mental health counseling. Out of these, 146 including 82 male and 64 female students have been identified as high risk and have been contacted by professionals to check on their mental health. They have been referred to the District Mental Health Authority on a priority basis and given mental health counselling," said the minister.

He added that 1.47 lakh students in Tamil Nadu have written the NEET exam and their details have been obtained from National Testing Agency and in the first phase, the list of names of 2,101 students studying in government and government-aided schools who wrote the NEET examination has been obtained from the school education department. “The mental health counseling for these students is being provided over call by the 104 helpline,” the Health Minister said.

Talking about NEET exemption to the State, the minister said that a detailed petition has been filed to the President regarding the delay in approval of the Bill after it was sent to the Governor for assent on 18 September, 2021. The government has also sent the replies to all the queries raised by the various Ministries of the Union Government.

"The new case was filed by the Tamil Nadu Government in the Supreme Court in this regard as well. He said that the legal department has sent an appropriate reply to the questions raised by the Union Health Ministry and the Ministry of Home Affairs over queries on the Ministry of AYUSH, " he said. He reiterated that the Tamil Nadu government is making all efforts to gain NEET exemption.