Namakkal: Twins get medical seats, but in vain

Namakkal: Twin sisters, R.A.Athya and A.Aarthi, have got the prized medical seats in leading government colleges in Tamil Nadu. But there is no celebration in their impoverished house in Erumapatti village in Namakkal district.

Instead, her parents, who are poor daily wage labourers, are in tears.  For, they have no money to pay the tuition fees for their medical education.

“I have paid the admission fees of Rs 17,000 for my daughters medical studies. But I don’t have the money to pay their tuition fee and hostel fee,” said the 50-year-old R.Arumugam, who works as a daily wage labourer at an iron workshop.

The girls’ mother works as an agricultural labourer to feed her daughters. The poor parents have to pay a minimum of Rs 1 lakh each towards the tuition and hostel fee of their twin daughters.

Their academically brilliant twin daughters scored impressive marks in plus-2 exam. While Athya scored 1127 out of 1200 with a cut off of 193, Aarthi outscored her twin sister with 1152 marks and a cut off of 196.

Aarthi got admission to the prestigious Stanley medical college in Chennai and Athya got a seat in Omandurar medical college in Chennai. “Last year, our grandmother was bed-ridden. My father took a loan and  spent on her treatment but she died.

“Just before her death, she told us that if we were doctors we would have saved her life. Therefore, we wish to fulfill our grandmother’s wish by becoming doctors,” says Aarthi.   As the girls' uncle died of oral cancer and their grandmother of heart disease, Athya wishes to become an oncologist and Aarthi a cardiologist.