The highlight of the Bill is laying down uniform national standards in medical education by proposing that the final year MBBS exam be treated as an entrance test for PG and a screening test for students who graduated in medicine from foreign countries.
Union Cabinet on 2019 July 17 Wednesday approved the National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill which replace 63 Year Medical Council of India (MCI)
The NMC Bill proposes a common final year MBBS exam, to be known as National Exit Test (NEXT), for admission to post-graduate medical courses and for obtaining license to practice medicine. It would also act as a screening test for foreign medical graduates, official sources said.
The National Medical Commission Bill 2019 proposes to repeal the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956.
Now What is National Exit Test NEXT Fact Check
Medical Graduate from Bangladesh need to clear NEXT replacing FMGE to practice in India. Don’t panic no update for immediately replacement of FMGE.
National Exit Test (NEXT) Common entrance exam
• MBBS Students for Indian Medical College – Final year MBBS candidates who desirous for Post Graduate courses
• MBBS Students pass-out from foreign medical colleges – Licensing exam to practice in India.
NEXT will act as multipurpose solution single exam, now medical graduate don’t need to seat for separate examination.
Student can appear NEXT twice a year.
NEXT will be online Computer Based examination. Which will held twice a year in the month of June/July and Nov/December.
According to the amendments in the fresh NMC Bill, entry into the PG programmes will be on the basis of the results of the National Exit Test, which would be held as a common exam across the country. So the candidates would not have to appear in a separate exam after clearing the MBBS final exam for admission to PG courses. Abolishing Foreign Medical Graduate Exam (FMGE).
National Exit Test NEXT Fact Check
Since past few days we received a lot of WhatsApp and Text messages and calls from various parents and students who Study MBBS Abroad. Inquiring about NEXT (National Exit Test) and NEET-PG. This sudden upsurge of these questions might be sourced from some newspapers who reported that to pass MBBS you have to pass NEXT and on the basis of NEXT marks you will be allotted PG.
Salient Features of Bill:
Common final year MBBS Exams (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery) will be known as National Exit Test (NEXT) which would serve as Licentiate Exam, for entrance to Post Graduate (PG) medical course and as screening test of foreign medical graduates.
It provides that National Entrance Test i.e. NEET, Common Counselling, NEXT will also be applicable to Institutes of National Importance (INIs) such as AIIMS to have common standards in country.
National Medical Commission (NMC), an autonomous authority will regulate fees and all other charges for 50 percent seats in private medical colleges and deemed universities in India.
NMC will ensure a transparent admission process and also reduce admission fee, and regulate fee in private colleges as well.
NMC will have Four Autonomous Boards,
- Under-Graduate Medical Education Board
- Post-Graduate Medical Education Board
- Medical Assessment and Rating Board
- Ethics and Medical Registration Board
NMC and respective boards will work towards ensuring a dynamic and modern educational environment, decreasing emphasis on physical infrastructure, achieving norms in global standards and an effective grievance redressal mechanism.
Significance: These new measures will ensure a transparent admission process and will also bring down admission fee.
Criticism of NMC Bill : NMC Bill is being pushed by Centre amid resistance from Indian Medical Association (IMA) and other sections. The Bill has been facing flak over various issues and IMA, the apex medical body has claimed that replacing MCI with another body may attract new forms of corruption.
Ex President RDA AIIMS Delhi Said
“NEXT : Previously it was decided by government to bring NEXT after completion of MBBS. But after our strong protest for adding extra exam without any significance, Government agreed to retract NEXT as an extra exam but showed their willingness to convert final year MBBS into NEXT which means common final year theory exam like 12th Board exam of 500 medical colleges together. It will also include exam of foreign medical graduates who did their MBBS from outside India. So in any way you are not giving any extra exam but only a common final year exam.
I was an invited member to the parliamentary standing committee on health which was drafting the NMC bill, I registered my strong opposition to NEXT, Bridge course and various other clauses of NMC bill in parliament.”
Doctor also added..
“From my experience of National Medical Commission (NMC) struggle i want to clarify once and for all that please don’t get panicked by these news reports, it was just a proposal by government without any ground reality. We all know that medical education system is not prepared yet to take common final year exam and even if the government is strongly adamant to implement NEXT then they will have to start working towards this goal after the NMC bill is passed in the parliament. Looking at the present scenario where doctors are strongly opposing this bill it doesn’t seems that this bill will come sooner and even if this bill is passed in both Houses of Parliament then also it will take around 3-5 years for government to bring NEXT into reality. So all of you who are preparing for NEET please continue studying without any confusion. NEXT will not be implemented for the next 3-5 years.
It is just a Licentiate Exam to practice in India. It can’t be NEET because 70000 students pass MBBS every year and we have hardly 40000 seats in PG. So Indian government must have to increase PG seats equivalent, to MBBS seats then only we can imagine that exit exam will replace NEET. Otherwise every year the backlog will increase and it will create pressure on government and students.”
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