NO NEXT- NBE to Conduct NEET PG in March 2023

New Delhi: Giving the final stand on whether MBBS passouts will be appearing for NEET PG 2023 or National Exit Test (NExT) exam as a gateway to Postgraduate Medical courses, the National Board of Examinations (NBE) has given its verdict stating that it will be conducting NEET PG exam next year.

The said exam is tentatively scheduled for March 2023 as per the recent notice issued by the exam conducting body.

Releasing its Tentative Calendar for the upcoming examinations, NBE in its recent notice dated 16.09.2022 mentioned March 5, 2023 as the tentative date for the upcoming NEET-PG 2023 examination.

When the PG medical aspirants have been eagerly waiting for any confirmation regarding the upcoming entrance examination, the NBE notice gives some clarity to them as it confirms that the much speculated National Exit Test (NExT) is not going to be held very soon.

Although NExT was set to be implemented from 2023, the aspirants were confused about such a possibility since there was no official communication from NMC in this regard. 

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. The exam is set to replace the NEET PG and FMGE exams.

Also Read: NEXT from 2023, regulations to be published soon: NMC in RTI response

The NEXT exam would not only serve as a licentiate exam for those who have done MBBS in India as well as abroad but would also serve as a gateway to admission to the Postgraduate broad-specialty medical education in the country. In other words, MBBS graduates will have to complete their final internship to earn the licence for practising as a doctor in India. Besides, Foreign Medical Graduates (FMGs) have to qualify through the exam after it becomes operational in order to get registration with State Medical Councils for practising as a doctor in India.

In addition, to get admission to MD, MS, DM, MCh programmes, the doctors will have to qualify for the NEXT instead of NEET PG once it initiates. As per various sources, the NEXT examination was scheduled to commence from 2023. As per the NMC Act, NEXT exam is set to be conducted within three years of the constitution of NMC.

Earlier this year, while responding to a plea seeking further reduction of NEET PG cut-off percentile, the Central Government had informed the Delhi High Court bench regarding the possibility of introducing as "Exit Test", which is similar to AIBE to lawyers and would act as a qualifier for the medical graduates for obtaining their medical registration.

Meanwhile, a Right to Information (RTI) reply by NMC started circulating on the social media and the Commission allegedly stated in it that NExT would be implemented from 2023. As per the RTI, the NMC confirmed about this and mentioned, "The NEXT will be implemented from 2023. The modalities of NEXT will be clear once NEXT regulations will be published by NMC."

Even though the results of NEET PG 2022 got published in June, 2022, NMC remained silent regarding the much speculated NExT exam. Amid all this, Union Government Officials reportedly hinted at the possibility of one year delay in the implementation of the common exit test, NExT. 

Speaking to a leading daily, the officials had reportedly mentioned that the discussions were going on whether NBE or the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi should conduct the test. Apart from this, the Ministry official had also informed that decisions need to be taken regarding the framework of the examination including the syllabus and also regarding the fact if the exam shall be an analytical test or a multiple choice questions based test.

It was further mentioned by the official that NMC was not yet prepared completely for organizing this test and therefore, the earliest NExT can be implemented will be in 2024.

Amid all such rumours about NExT getting postponed, now the NBEMS has provided some clarity to the student by confirming that NEET-PG and not NExT shall be conducted tentatively in March 2023.