AIIMS likely to Conduct NEXT 2023: NMC Awaits Health Ministry Nod
New Delhi: The much speculated National Exit Test (NExT) is likely to be conducted by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi this year and the National Medical Commission (NMC) has sought approval from the Union Health Ministry in this regard.
Confirming this, a senior official in the medical education division of the Union Health Ministry told The Print, “The NMC has written to us asking for allowing AIIMS to organise this year’s NEXT and a decision will soon be taken after weighing the options.” As per government estimates shared with the Daily, around 75,000 students are expected to appear for NEXT this year.
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.
While NExT was set to be held in 2023, several decisions regarding the conduction of the test remained undecided. Amidst this, the National Board of Examinations (NBE) announced that it would conduct NEET PG for 2023. Last year, official sources informed the ANI that the exam would be conducted by AIIMS, New Delhi. However, there was no official confirmation in this regard.
Also Read: AIIMS Likely to Conduct NEXT Exam 2023, say Sources
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.
Earlier this year, the Union Health Ministry proposed amendments to the NMC Act 2019 and announced about its proposal of dissolving NBEMS and replace it with the Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (BEMS) as the Fifth Autonomous Board under the NMC.
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."
While the much-speculated exam is likely to be held next year, there is still confusion regarding the authority that will be in charge of conducting the test. Currently final year MBBS examinations are conducted by respective colleges and NBE conducts NEET-PG and FMGE examinations.
Also Read: Who will conduct NEXT exam? This body..as per Health Ministry
As per the latest media report by The Print, now NMC has written to the Union Health Ministry seeking its nod for allowing AIIMS to organise this year’s NEXT and the approval of the Ministry is still pending in this regard.
Referring to the earlier consideration of the giving NBE the responsibility of organising NEXT, another official in the medical education division in the Health Ministry told the daily on the condition of anonymity, “However, it was found that the examination body may not be in a position to conduct a test like NEXT, which is going to focus more on clinical learning of MBBS students rather than just the theoretical parts.”
“AIIMS, on the other hand, maybe in a better position to organise the examination as its standard of test is considered high and [it] is capable of conducting simulation-based tests,” added the official.
Meanwhile, commenting on the matter, the Director of AIIMS, New Delhi, Dr. M Srinivasan informed the daily that Ministry will take the final call in this regard and added, "But we are in a position to take the responsibility."
Medical Dialogues had last month reported that in a letter written to the Director of Medical Education of all States / UTs, Shambhu Sharan Kumar, Director of UG Medical Education Board of NMC stated, "The National Exit Test (NExT) Regulations are likely to be finalized shortly and would be placed before the NMC in the next meeting to be scheduled in June 2023. In order to finalize the date of the National Exit Test (NExT), the status regarding completion of the current batches of final MBBS professional course. is required... It is therefore, requested that the likely date of the completion of current batches of final MBBS course in the Medical Colleges of your respective States/UTs may be intimated to NMC on or before 31st May, 2023."
Last year, NMC finally released the proposed draft regulations related to NExT and provided details regarding the manner of the exam. In the Draft, NMC provided all the details related to the NExT exam detailing its objective, applicability, its bifurcation into STEP 1 and STEP 2 and how these two steps examinations be conducted as well as the calculations and validity and the uses of the NeXT scores.
NEXT Steps:
NExT 1, will be theoretical, and NExT 2 will be practical, clinical and oral examination covering seven clinical subjects or disciplines.
According to the draft, NEXT Step 1 scores will be used towards PG entrance and NEXT STEP 2 will be a qualifying exam. The validity of the NEXT STEP 1 score towards PG entrance shall be 3 years and at the same time there is no limit on the attempts at both the exams provided that the candidate has passed both NExT Step 1 and NExT Step 2 Examination within 10 years of joining the MBBS Course.
Meanwhile, the doctors are concerned about the implementation of NEXT exam while replacing the prevailing system. Speaking to Medical Dialogues in this regard, IMA JDN National standing committee member Dr Karan Juneja mentioned, "Implementing next will be a difficult task as the timeline for final year MBBS examination varies across different States.
Students are also confused about it as there is still no clarity about several important aspects of the exam. So, they will face problems if the old system gets replaced by NEXT all of a sudden."
