Chennai, July 15 (UNI) Tamil Nadu Minister for Medical and Family
Welfare Ma.Subramanian on Thursday met Union Education Minister
Dharmendra Pradhan and Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya in
New Delhi and discussed issues concerning the State, including
exemption from NEET and allocation of additional doses of COVID
vaccines in proportionate with the population.
Mr Subramanian, who is on an official visit to the National Capital,
met Mr Dharmendra Pradhan and urged him to exempt TN from
NEET exams this year.
The NEET exam is scheduled to be held on September 12.
NEET is the qualifying exam for admission to UG and PG medical
courses in the country.
In a series of tweets, Mr Pradhan said Mr Subramanian met him
to discuss various issues of Tamil Nadu, including NEET(UG)-2021.
"Explained to him about the background of the Hon’ble Supreme
Court’s directions in this regard", he said.
"Also, shared with him that to cater to regional aspirations, number
of languages being offered this year have been increased to 11 from
13 with the addition of Malayalam and Punjabi. The exam is already
being conducted in the Tamil language", he said.
Mr Pradhan said Mr Subramanian was also informed that for the
convenience of the students of Tamil Nadu, four new cities,
Chengalpet, Virudhunagar, Dindigul and Tiruppur have been added
for conducting NEET(UG).
The number of cities have increased to 18 from last year’s 14.
The number of examination centres will also be increased, he
added.
Later, talking to reporters, Mr Subramanian said if the Centre did
not grant exemption from NEET, the State government would seek
relief legally through court.
During his meeting with Mr Mansukh Mandaviya, Mr Subramanian
took up a host of issues and put forth 13 demands including
establishing an All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS)
in Coimbatore.
Mr.Subramanian said he also urged Mr Mandaviya to allocate
additional COVID vaccine doses to the State, apart from expediting
the AIIMS project in Madurai.
“The Chief Minister has written to the Prime Minister, seeking
special allocation of one crore vaccine doses to the State. This
was also conveyed to the Union Health Minister. We stressed
the demand for allocation of more vaccine doses, in proportion
to the population,” Mr Subramanian said.
Apart from seeking permission for admitting students in 11 new
medical college after due inspections by the Centre, he said
he also urged the Union Minister to permit immediate opening
of the Integrated Vaccine Complex set up by HLL Biotech in
Chengalpattu and Pasteur Institute in Coonoor for vaccine
production.
UNI GV 1630