NEET medical exams will harm Tamil Nadu Healthcare.

The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) fulfills admission to undergraduate medical courses in government and private colleges. The qualification is mandatory for pursuing the same medical courses abroad as well.

Tamil Nadu, is known for various significant reforms in its health sector which dates back to 1939 when it became the first state to enact a Public Health Act. The state is renowned for its low mortality rates in addition to the effective healthcare infrastructure and health manpower. It is the only state with distinctive public health care at the district level. As proof of always attaining the first position when it comes to health care, the state ranked first in the country in terms of children immunized after ‘The Universal Immunization Programme’. Despite a lot of flaws in this sector, the Tamil Nadu Health Sector remains the “go-to example” of a health care delivery system in a resource-limited setting. Could the NEET examinations prove to be a danger to his success, this emulated progress that has been prominent in Tamil Nadu from decades past and decades to come? In a survey that we held, it was found that before the NEET examinations, students from Tamil-medium schools attained medical seats on a large scale, however, this wasn’t the case post the introduction of the NEET examinations. Post the introduction of the NEET examinations, Tamil-medium schools faced a disadvantage- students that we're unable to attain seats increased on a large scale. Marginalized students comprised 14% of MBBS admissions pre-NEET to only comprising 1.7% of MBBS admissions post- NEET. Simultaneously, Tamil- medium students went from comprising nearly 20% of admissions to just 1.6%. This data shows a potential drawback in Tamil Nadu health care due to the NEET examinations. A significant and influential name, in the world of NEET, is the name of a student, Anitha that fared from a village in Tamil Nadu. Her death, or rather her suicide resulted in protests in the state to put an end to the NEET examinations. Anitha had secured high marks in her board exams which would have been sufficient pre-NEET for admission into medical colleges but the entrance cut off and the based admission criteria had failed Anitha, a girl who would have gone on to bring innumerable accolades to the healthcare system of Tamil Nadu. Anitha’s life was not the only life that was taken from her in vain, the suicide rates among students in Tamil Nadu due to the NEET examinations have increased and continue to increase. On the contrary to the low percentage of admissions of students from Tamil- medium schools, admissions of students from English- medium schools stands at a high 80%- to 97.8%. It is believed that the NEET examinations has “created a generation of doctors and teaching faculties from mainly the privileged communities who are well away from the grass root realities of the diverse social structure” As a solution to this underlying issue, The Tamil Nadu Admission Undergraduate Medical Degree Courses Act 2021 was introduced by Chief Minister MK Stalin. The main purpose of this Bill is to enable admissions into medical undergraduate courses in government and private institutions to be based on Class 12 marks. The way it was, before the NEET examinations were introduced, a flourishing healthcare system. “Examination is something quite different from education, but in the name of raising, the standard of education, they are making examinations impossible and so severe that backward communities which have hitherto not had the chance of entering the portals of University are absolutely kept out” - B.R Ambedkar

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