PMK demands NEET review after first-attempt MBBS admissions drop under 7.5 per cent quota

PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss on Saturday called for an urgent review and abolition of the NEET, saying official admission data has revealed that only five per cent of government school students admitted under Tamil Nadu's 7.5 per cent horizontal reservation cleared the exam in their first attempt. In a statement, the PMK leader said recent reports detailing the number of NEET attempts taken by students admitted to MBBS courses in Tamil Nadu's government and private medical colleges raise serious questions about whether the entrance test has fulfilled its stated objective.

He argued that if more than 95 per cent of medical aspirants must write NEET multiple times to secure admission, the effectiveness of the system warrants critical scrutiny.

Also read MUHS Nashik plans 865 new colleges: 51 for MBBS, most in small towns; big push for allied health sciences

Referring to government data for the 2025–26 academic year, the PMK leader pointed out that out of 650 government school students admitted under the 7.5 per cent quota across government and private medical colleges, only 33 students-or five per cent-qualified in their first attempt. "The remaining 617 students secured seats only after repeated attempts, with 235 succeeding on their second attempt, 283 on their third, 91 on their fourth, six on their fifth, and two taking six or more attempts", he added.

Stating that a similar pattern across other admission categories, the former Union Health minister said "among the 8,053 students admitted under the remaining 92.5 per cent government quota seats in government and private colleges, only 1,613 (20 per cent) cleared the test on their first try, while 6,440 took between two and six or more attempts".

Also read Tamil Nadu NEET PG 2026 rank list out for government quota degree, diploma courses; check top scores

Observing that the 7.5 per cent reservation was originally introduced because government school students could not afford expensive private coaching, he said, however, with 95 per cent of these students now undergoing two to six years of additional training, even economically disadvantaged families are being forced into debt to fund special coaching classes, which he described as "stark evidence of the commercialisation of medical education". Anbumani recalled that when NEET was announced in 2010 and made mandatory in 2017, the Union government maintained it would curb commercialisation and improve the quality of medical education.