Sr citizens too enter the fray for MBBS seats

Time of India

a day ago

Chennai: At least three senior citizens, aged 68, 67, and 60, including two lawyers, who cleared the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) 2025, applied for MBBS admissions in Tamil Nadu.
State selection committee officials said there are at least 25 people, including professionals such as dentists, nurses, homoeopaths, siddha practitioners, lab technicians, and lawyers, above the age of 35 years competing for the undergraduate medical and dental courses.
The National Medical Commission, the apex body regulating medical education in India, has said there is no bar on age or the number of attempts to appear for the qualifying examination.
Merit in NEET is the sole criterion for admissions to medical or dental colleges across India.
"This year, we see many graduates and professionals aspiring for a medical or dental seat. It's the highest number of middle-age and older applicants we have seen since 2017," said a senior official. They may not have adequate score to compete against younger candidates, but some have secured marks that could secure them a seat under the 69% reservation category and permit them to study medicine at a subsidised cost at a govt college or free of cost at a private college.
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All three senior citizens applied for admission under a special quota, where 7.5% of seats are reserved for students from govt schools. Under this scheme, students pursue medicine in govt or private colleges free of cost. The govt pays the fees and takes care of the boarding charges. While the govt has not given a ceiling on age or attempts, officials are seeing technical hitches as not all documents match the requirements.
"Most of them have documents that may be equal but don't match requirements mentioned in the prospectus," an official said. "Some people have given pre-university course scores instead of a Class XII mark sheet. In some cases, a Class XII subject is mentioned as natural sciences; instead of biology, botany or zoology. We don't know if we must allow them to appear for counselling, reject their applications or give them time to get equivalence certificates," he added.
Furthermore, the core debate among officials is whether this special quota should extend to all graduates, regardless of age. While officials are discussing this with health secretary P Senthilkumar and consulting legal departments, educationalists and counsellors are raising alarms. "This quota was introduced only because there was no level playing field in NEET. Unlike other students, govt school students cannot afford coaching in private tutorials," said Dr Karthikeyan R, who runs Aatrupadai Foundation, an NGO that offers free NEET coaching.
"Asking them to compete with professionals, who have access to private training institutes, is unfair," he said.
Student counsellors such as Manickavel Arumugam argue that the state cannot give fee subsidies either. "Will a senior citizen be able to complete the strenuous course? Will they be able to work 24-hour shifts during house surgery? " he said. "If people quit the course in between, they must be asked to pay a fine of 10 lakh and the entire non-subsidised course fee," he added.