Chennai: Admissions to allied health undergraduate courses — including nursing, physician assistant, physiotherapy, and optometry — will commence in Tamil Nadu next week, bypassing the usual sequence that follows medical admissions. Officials at the directorate of medical education stated that this move is a direct consequence of the NEET-UG crisis.
Impact of NEET-UG Cancellation
Admissions to MBBS and Indian medicine courses have been suspended after the Centre cancelled NEET-2026, which was held in May, following complaints of a question paper leak. A re-examination has been scheduled for June 21. “We will not be able to start MBBS admissions until August at the earliest,” said Dr. V. Lokanayaki, secretary of the state selection committee. “If we wait for four rounds of MBBS counselling, we will be delaying admissions for all allied courses. This will affect their academic schedule as well.”
The National Medical Commission mandates that the MBBS academic session begin on September 1. When colleges start late, medical institutions are forced to compress semesters, cut holidays, and reduce study leaves to complete the syllabus on time. Health department officials argue that this burden cannot be passed on to allied health courses year after year.
Potential Issues with Early Admissions
However, the early start may solve one problem while creating another, warn academicians. Students are widely expected to claim allied health seats and hold them as insurance until they secure an MBBS or Indian medicine berth. This could leave institutions with blocked seats that they cannot fill, locking out genuine aspirants. “Many students who fail to secure an MBBS or siddha/ayurveda/homeopathy seat opt for nursing and physiotherapy. Now, they will book these seats in advance. Already, many seats in engineering, arts, and science colleges are blocked,” said student counsellor Supraja Sriram.
Decoupling from NEET Eligibility
To partly address this issue, the Centre has decoupled allied health admissions from NEET eligibility this year. Admissions to allied health courses will now be based on Class XII marks, not NEET scores. “Earlier, they said that physiotherapy and occupational therapy admissions must be based on NEET. This was changed following representations from several states. This year, all allied health courses are exempted from NEET,” an official explained.
Application Process Changes
Students will need to download separate applications for different courses this year, given varying eligibility criteria. “Usually, they buy one application for multiple courses. That cannot be done this year,” the official said. However, steps will be taken to ensure students are not burdened with paying for every application.
