51-Year-Old Diagnostics Professional Secures MBBS Seat at Nagapattinam College

More than three decades after his initial attempt to enter medical school, 51-year-old diagnostics industry professional Suresh Kumar secured an undergraduate medical seat on Thursday during offline counselling held at the Tamil Nadu Government Multi Super Speciality Hospital in Chennai.

Kumar, who holds a postgraduate degree in pharmacology, an MBA, and two doctorates, secured admission to the Government Medical College and Hospital in Nagapattinam under the persons with disabilities (PWD) quota after scoring 192 out of 720 in the NEET examination.

Kumar completed his Class XII education in 1992 with the goal of pursuing medicine but did not secure a medical seat at the time. He subsequently built a career in the diagnostics sector while furthering his academic qualifications. His ambition to pursue medicine was revived following a 2020 Supreme Court decision that removed the upper age limit for medical admissions.

After an unsuccessful attempt at the NEET examination in 2022, Kumar dedicated nearly 1.5 years to preparation before clearing the test and attending the counselling session in Chennai.

Special category counselling for undergraduate medical admissions took place offline at the Tamil Nadu Government Multi Super Speciality Hospital, while general category candidates were required to register online. The offline counselling process covered allocations across several special categories, including sports, children of ex-servicemen, persons with disabilities, and the 7.5 percent government school quota.

According to counselling data, the PWD category featured 224 available seats with 108 applicants, representing the lowest applicant turnout among the special quotas. In contrast, competition was significantly higher in other brackets, including the sports category, where 280 candidates competed for 15 seats. The ex-servicemen quota saw 366 applicants for 11 seats, while 3,806 applicants contested for 614 seats under the 7.5 percent quota for government school students.