CHENNAI: State health helpline 104 was unable to reach out to 32% of students who appeared for NEET from Tamil Nadu this year, according to official sources. According to data from the health department, 1,45,988 candidates appeared for NEET-UG this year. The State has been providing psychological counselling the last few years to all candidates who appeared for NEET ever since a few aspirants from Tamil Nadu died by suicide fearing the result.
This year, the helpline with 110 counsellors began providing stress management counselling to the candidates on July 18. However, the counsellors couldn’t reach out to 32% of candidates in the list for reasons including phone not reachable or no response to calls from the candidates. The counsellors managed to reach out to only 68% of the candidates.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Health Minister Ma Subramanian said the counsellors have identified 587 candidates as highly stressed out of 1,45,988 candidates from Tamil Nadu. 17,517 candidates were from government and government-aided schools.
Among the highly stressed candidates, 98 are continuously being monitored by the district mental health team. The State has also constituted a team under the National Health Mission in 38 districts which includes district educational officers and district mental health counsellors, the minister said.
Teachers in schools have also been instructed to monitor students who have studied under them and alert the district counselling team if they identify any highly stressed students, Subramanian added.
“Career guidance also will be provided to the students who failed to qualify the NEET-UG,” he added.
Meanwhile, as the National Testing Agency did not release the result till late evening, students out of anxiety kept calling the helpline asking when the results will be released.