AMN / NEW DELHI
Union Health Minister J P Nadda today chaired a meeting of State Health Ministers on the issue of common medical entrance test here. Health Ministers and Health Secretaries of various States participated in the meeting.
The meeting was convened after several parliamentarians opposed the common medical entrance test saying that NEET has created confusion among students who have already applied for State entrance exams. Later, after the meeting Mr Nadda tweeted that he has noted the concerns of the States about NEET and the Government will soon formulate further course of action.
The Supreme Court’s order to have a single entrance test NEET for admissions to medical and dental colleges was welcomed by many states, though some of them flagged concerns over holding it in the current year itself as Centre kicked off the consultation process on the issue.
The Supreme Court had ruled that starting this academic session, students will have to appear for National Eligibility cum Entrance Test, NEET to seek admission to any medical or dental colleges in the country. Earlier this week, the apex court also turned down a batch of appeals by States seeking to conduct their own medical admission tests and ruled that only NEET will enable students to get admission to MBBS or BDS studies.
Following the apex court’s ruling, opposition parties have raised concerns that students passing out from state boards in vernacular languages and living in remote areas may not be able to perform well enough in common entrance exam despite being competitive. Several MPs have demanded the government to bring forth an ordinance to stall the NEET for the current academic session.
