Tamil Nadu Health Minister C. Vijayabaskar has written to Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Harsh Vardhan requesting the Centre to dispense with the conduct of NEET this year as it would put the lives of students attending it at “great risk” of COVID-19 infection.
Mr. Vijayabaskar requested Dr. Harsh Vardhan that admissions to medical/dental courses for the academic year 2020-21 be based on the earlier pattern of admissions depending on the marks secured by the students in the Standard XII examinations, for which results have already been announced.
Pointing out that Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami had already addressed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue, Mr. Vijayabaskar asked the Centre to allow the State to admit students on the basis of Standard XII marks, and “direct the Ministry to promulgate an Ordinance to keep in abeyance relevant sections of the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956, and Dentist Act, 1948, and connected regulations governing the medical and dental college admissions”.
“You may well be aware that Tamil Nadu, as a matter of policy, has been consistently opposing NEET and has been taking all legal and legislative steps to overcome this. In the current year, the Government of India and all State governments, including the government of Tamil Nadu, have actively engaged themselves in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic for the past several months,” he said.
“Conducting the NEET examination at this point would put the lives of the students attending it at great risk of infection, even if all precautions were taken. In the current scenario, it would be very difficult for the students to actively prepare or take part in the NEET exam this year, “ the Health Minister said.
