The situation over the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for medical aspirants has become a cause of concern in Tamil Nadu after 3 students, anxious over their performances in the entrance exam, ended their lives in a span of a week.

While over 15 medical aspirants have died by suicide in the last few years, a 17-year-old girl from Tamil Nadu's Ariyalur district was the last person to be found dead in her house in Sathampadi village on September 14. The unfortunate incidents led Tamil Nadu's Chief Minister MK Stalin to address the students in a recent video. "I beg of you, please do not end your lives. Nothing is impossible for you. Study with that confidence. Parents, too, should instill self-confidence in children and not stress them out," CM Stalin was quoted as saying.

The CM also requested the students who were stressed over the entrance exam to talk to mental health experts by dialling 104. He had earlier tabled a bill in the assembly, seeking a permanent exemption from NEET for the state. The bill aims to provide for admission to undergraduate courses in medicine, dentistry, Indian medicine and homoeopathy based on the marks obtained by students in the qualifying examination (Class 12).