NExT exam opposed in Tamil Nadu

According to the National Medical Commission (NMC) Act, NExT will serve as a common qualifying final year MBBS exam, a licentiate exam to practice modern medicine and for merit-based admission to postgraduate courses and a screening exam for foreign medical graduates who want to practice in India.

Also Read:NExT likely to be Conducted by AIIMS in 2024: Health Ministry Sources

In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Stalin said the Government of Tamil Nadu has been consistent in its opposition to the introduction of NEET (National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test) and NExT in any form for both undergraduate and postgraduate medical admissions.

”The NEET based medical admission system under the National Medical Commission (NMC) Act has already adversely impacted the equitable, school education based selection process and its contribution to the strengthening of the public health system. At this juncture, the proposed introduction of NExT will surely exacerbate this trend and cause an irreparable damage to the interest of rural and socially disadvantaged students and the public institutions under State Governments,” the CM told Modi, as quoted by PTI.

In all the states of the country, the curriculum for medical education is already being devised under the norms fixed by the NMC. The curricula, training and examination system are monitored vigilantly by the respective State Medical Universities, Stalin said. The students are awarded MBBS degree in recognised colleges, only after such rigorous training and examinations.

”In this situation, the introduction of such a common exit test will definitely be an additional burden on the students. Given the high academic burden and stress faced by our medical students this needs to be strictly avoided. In addition, the introduction of such a course as a mandatory exit test will also hamper the clinical learning, which is vital for MBBS graduates,” Stalin told the PM. He said young graduates focus both on the theoretical and clinical aspects of medical science and only after graduation, the students who opt for PG admissions focus on theoretical PG exams. But the introduction of mandatory exit exam will force them to focus more on the theoretical part of medicine during their course and internships. ”This is bound to hamper development of adequate clinical skills.”

”In light of the above, I again wish to re-emphasise that the introduction of NExT is neither in the interest of the students nor in the interest of state governments who fund most of the medical institutions. This step seems to be just another attempt to dilute the role of State governments and universities in the health sector and to centralise the powers with the Union government. Therefore, I once again request that NExT should not be introduced and the existing system be continued,” he said.

NExT will be held next year and is likely to be conducted by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi.

The government had in September last year invoked the provisions of the NMC Act by which the time limit for conducting the NExT exam for the final year MBBS was extended till September 2024. Under the NMC Act, the Commission has to conduct a common final year undergraduate medical examination, NExT, as specified by regulations within three years of it coming into force. The Act came into force in September 2020. The timeline was extended last year, officials stated.

Mock tests would need to be carried out before the main test is held. The importance of the NExT exam lies in the fact that it will be the same for everyone, whether trained in India or any part of the world, and hence, it will solve the problem of foreign medical graduates (FMGs)/mutual recognition, officials said.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that NExT, a common exit exam envisaged by the government to standardize medical education across the country, was proposed by NMC as a part of the bill passed in the year 2019.

Section 15 of the NMC Act provides for the conduct of a common final year undergraduate examination, to be known as the National Exit Test (NExT) which shall be the basis for Registration to practice medicine, admission to PG medical courses and Screening Test for foreign medical graduates to practice modern medicine.

The NExT was supposed to be operational within three years from the commencement of the NMC Act, 2019 and conducted through a designated authority and in such a manner as may be specified by regulations. The Act came into force in September 2020.

Although NMC finally released the proposed draft regulations related to NExT and put an end to the speculations regarding the manner of exam and other details, it did not specify which body would conduct the test.

As per the proposed amendments, after Section 27 of the NMC Act 2019, Section 27A shall be added and it will specify the powers, functions and duties of the Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (BEMS). The public notice specifying the proposed amendments stated that along with its other responsibilities, BEMS will also "conduct National EXIT test."

Since there was no clarity regarding the much-speculated examination, fake news regarding this was doing rounds on the social media platforms. Recently, once such fake notification claimed that the NExT exam will be held in the later half of 2023 and AIIMS will conduct Part I of the examination.

Also Read:Beware of fake NExT exam alert viral on social media