In the midst of a plunge in the percentage of students who cleared NEET this year, Tamil Nadu on the other hand is witnessing a tragic event where the results of the national medical examination have distressed the students.

It is evident with the recent revelation that Tamil Nadu's helpline for providing counselling to NEET aspirants is recording a surge in distress calls. The Tamil Nadu government's health helpline has been receiving more calls from students who failed to clear the NEET. The results were announced on Wednesday after which the calls to the helpline have seen a big jump.

According to reports, the psychological counselling for NEET-UG aspirants began in Tamil Nadu on July 19 as several students in the state had died by suicide last year after failing to clear the national exam. According to IANS, the staff working with 104 helplines said that the callers display a distressed state of mind and most of them wanted to know how they can cope up with the reality that they could not clear NEET.

The counsellors told IANS that most of the students who had approached them were those who had got more than 90 per cent marks in core science subjects like Physics, Chemistry, and Biology in their Class 12 state board exams.

A counsellor who is attending calls at 104 helpline said, "Most of the students who are calling have been doing consistently good in academics and scoring high marks in core science subjects. However, they failed to clear the test and hence are dejected and in a highly disturbed and distressed state of mind." 

The counsellor further said that they feel that all their studies went in vain and that there was no other option other than ending their life. It is pertinent to note that 1,32,167 students appeared for NEET-UG examinations from Tamil Nadu this year of which 67,787 qualified.

The staff has said that they had tried to reach out to the 19-year-old girl from Ambattur in Chennai who died by suicide immediately after the results were out. It has been reported that the state government is trying to extend the services of the helpline as there has been an unprecedented surge in the number of distress calls from the students.