SALEM: Commenting on the status of medical education in the State, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami said that the government has scripted history by starting 11 government medical colleges in 2020. The number of medical seats has gone up from 1,945 in 2011 to 3,060 in the current year.
Palaniswami blamed the Congress-DMK combine for introducing NEET and said that it is the AIADMK government which took the legal course to seek exemption from the exam.
“The Supreme Court order pushed the State to implement NEET,” he said crediting his government for mitigating the effect it reportedly had on students by bringing 7.5 % horizontal quota.
“As neither the Opposition nor the public made any representations, we thought about the problems faced by students from economically weaker background and introduced 7.5 per cent quota in medical and dental admissions for government school students,” he said. “In Salem alone, 21 government school students got medical seats through the reservation,” Palaniswami said.