The Central Cabinet gave its approval to the new National Medical Commission Bill-2019, which replaced the Medical Council of India. In the new law the provision of ‘Exit Test’ is being done to ensure the quality of the doctors.
After completing the MBBS course, students will have to go through a common exam named, National Exit Test (NEXT) in the final year. Doctors will get the license to do medical practice only after passing this examination. Also, the students will get admission to postgraduate courses only on the basis of qualifying marks in NEXT examination. Apart from this, students who do MBBS from abroad will also have to appear for the NEXT examination instead of FMGE.
NEET PG will be replaced by NEXT
While giving information about Cabinet decisions, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said that the central cabinet has given its approval to the National Medical Commission Bill 2019.
In the fourth year of MBBS, a provision for conducting a common exam at the national level has been made. The name of the exam will be the National Exit Test. This exam will also work as NEET PG.
Apart from this, students who have completed MBBS from abroad will also have to appear for screening in the NEXT examination. It has been proposed to include all national medical institutions including AIIMS, into the NEET and common counselling.
In the Bill, the government has been empowered to fix fee for 50 per cent seats of private and deemed medical colleges. The proposed commission will consist of four autonomous boards; undergraduate medical education board, postgraduate medical education board, medical assessment and rating board and ethics and medical registration board.
According to media reports, the Bill, prepared during the previous tenure of the Modi government, had the provision of an EXIT exam after the completion of the MBBS course. However, the Parliamentary Committee had suggested for the state level examination in the fourth year of MBBS instead of an EXIT exam.