Sunday, February 3, 2019

Over 11,000 candidates qualify in PG NEET

CHENNAI, FEBRUARY 03, 2019 00:00 IST



Doctors hopeful that 50% seats of all-India quota will be filled by T.N. students

Nearly 65.1% of the candidates from the State who appeared for the Postgraduate NEET have qualified, indicating that participants from Tamil Nadu have done well this year.

The exam results were released on Wednesday and of the 17,067 candidates who took the test 11,121 qualified. The synopsis of the results by the National Board of Examinations shows that Kerala (75.1%) and Delhi (75.7%) are the two other regions that have done well. This performance has led the doctors’ associations to believe that in the coming year, the 50% seats that are surrendered under the all-India quota would be taken by students from the State.

More specialists

Tamil Nadu has the most number of government medical colleges and it has evolved a public healthcare system that encourages students to study speciality medicine.

This helped the State build its medical facilities considerably. When the Central government introduced NEET as the sole entrance for all PG seats, there was much opposition. Some doctors associations, however, maintained that in just a few years students from the State would manage to grab all the seats despite NEET.

K. Senthil, president, Tamil Nadu Government Doctors Association, said, “Earlier, students from the State occupied only the 1,800 seats that the State could offer. Less than 50 students got seats under the AIQ. This year, at least 4,000 students from the State will get into PG programmes across the deemed universities and self-financing colleges. With merit, the scope for getting a seat has widened.”

According to him, with the inclusion of the rural category along with difficult and remote, doctors in the public sector were likely to get 70-75% seats in the State quota this time.

However A. Ramalaingam, who represents the Service Doctors Association, believes fewer students will opt for clinical subjects. “Last year only 65% of service candidates were admitted. The number of such PGs in general medicine in the Stanley Medical College was three. This number could fall further this year. Before NEET, we used to have seven to eight candidates,” he said.

Incentive marks

But the Tamil Nadu Medical Officers Association has a different take. The incentive marks offered for the service quota enabled compartmentalisation of speciality medical seats, which improved public health facilities, said secretary J. Kathirvel.

The association wanted objective geographical classification of the healthcare facilities.

Candidates who have worked in remote and difficult areas should get 10% additional marks; while candidates working in rural areas should be given 8% more marks; those in urban PHCs should get 6% more marks; and candidates employed in government medical colleges should be awarded an additional 4% marks.

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