Clearing the air over the implementation of National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) in the State, Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda on Saturday said the test will be held in Tamil Nadu.
At an interaction with mediapersons at the Chennai airport, the Minister said he had told the State government to consider giving reservation to rural students to tide over its concerns.
Mr. Nadda said NEET was a national level test and did not discuss the possibility of exempting Tamil Nadu. “It is being implemented here (Tamil Nadu) also...the Tamil Nadu government feels that those from a rural background will not be able to adjust to the NEET admission process,” he said.
Calling reservation a State policy programme, Mr. Nadda said Tamil Nadu was well within its rights to give special consideration to students from rural areas.
The State government has been opposed to NEET, and in February two bills were introduced in the Assembly to exclude Tamil Nadu from it.
“As far as Tamil Nadu is concerned, we have told them that for people coming coming from rural areas, you are free to have your own reservation policy. In your reservation policy, you can see to it that the people of rural areas get the right type of admission,” Mr. Nadda added.
Land for AIIMS
“We are committed to having an All India Institute of Medical Sciences. It is an issue related to land. We are trying to solve that,” he said.
Mr. Nadda inaugurated Saveetha Medical Centre at Saveetha Medical College and Hospital, a press release from the college said. The medical centre is envisaged as a super specialty healthare facility to serve the needs of people living and working in the industrial belt of Chennai on NH 48.
The Minister spoke of the launch of the Pradhan Mantri Dialysis Yojana through which the government will be collaborating with private institutions to provide free dialysis to people living below the poverty line. He also mentioned the steadfast response of the government to health-related contingencies, the release said.
