PUDUKOTTAI: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami today inaugurated the 22nd government medical college and hospital in the state at Mullur in this district.
Speaking at the function, he said it was the dream of late Chief Minister J Jayalalitha that poor and downtrodden be able to access good medical facilities in all districts and this one could serve people in Pudukottai and nearby districts.
He claimed that the decision to cancel the entrance examinations for admission to medical and dental courses in Tamil Nadu had brought about social equality as it helped rural students get into such courses.
Further, the Chief Minister said that the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) introduced by the central government for admission to medical/dental courses would make it difficult for students from rural areas in the State.
As students in districts did not have access to training centres for entrance examinations like NEET,they found it very difficult to compete with those from urban areas, he said.
He said the medical college hospital here had been constructed at a cost of Rs 231 crore and was provided with state-of-the-art equipment and facilities.
Palaniswami said he had requested the Prime Minister to give Tamil Nadu permanent exemption from NEET and was hoping for a favourable response from the Centre in this regard.
The medical college in Pudukottai would start functioning this year with an intake of 150 students in the MBBS programme for which Medical Council of India has already granted permission.
Work on construction of buildings was completed within a record time of about one year, Palaniswami noted.