Chennai/IBNS/UNI: Pointing out that 16 medical aspirants have committed suicide in Tamil Nadu due to NEET, Chief Minister MK Stalin Monday urged President Droupadi Murmu to accord assent to the Tamil Nadu Admission to Under Graduate Medical Degree Courses Bill, 2021, seeking to exempt the state from the purview of NEET providing admissions to UG medical courses based on marks secured in the board exams.

In a demi-official letter to the President, copies of which were released to the media here, Stalin said the NEET Exemption Bill passed by the state government is the outcome of Legislative consensus, stemming from the collective will of the people of Tamil Nadu.

"Each day of delay in its implementation costs not only valuable medical seats to deserving students but invaluable human lives to our society," he said and solicited her immediate intervention in the matter.

Stating that the State government has given all the clarifications sought by the Centre, Stalin said that the Bill has not been provided as assent till now and the students have been forced to undergo the NEET-based admission process which is causing immense anxiety and stress in the minds of the students and parents.

As a result, there have been various sad incidents of students (or their parents) committing suicides, depressed by their failure to get admission through NEET, he noted.

Even recently, a student from Chrompet in Chennai and his father committed suicide due to the stress of the student’s failure in NEET, Stalin pointed out.

"With this, the toll of students who have committed suicide due to NEET has increased to 16 in our state," he said.

"These tragedies could have been definitely avoided if our bill for exemption from NEET had been given assent and the medical admissions done on the basis of +2 marks," Stalin said.