NExT exam likely to be held in August 2025: Report
New Delhi: As per the Discussions between the Health Ministry and National Medical Commission officials, the National Exit Test (NExT) is likely to be held in August 2025 for the final year MBBS students of the 2020 batch. This was recently confirmed by the official sources to the PTI..
The National Medical Commission (NMC) in its NExT Regulations 2023 issued in June had stated the exam will be held in two phases - NExT Step 1 and NExT Step 2 - within 12 months.
NExT shall serve as a licentiate examination for medical graduates in India and determine the eligibility and ranking for admission to postgraduate medical education in the country. It will also be a screening exam for foreign medical graduates who want to practise in India.
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Last month, the National Medical Commission deferred the exam for the final year MBBS students of the 2019 batch.
"Going by the deliberations being held between the health ministry and NMC officials, the NExT Step 1 is likely to be held in August 2025 for the final year MBBS students of the 2020 batch," an official source told PTI.
Around 65,000 students took admission to MBBS courses across the country in 2020. According to a data analysis by the health ministry, of these, 62,000 students will be eligible to appear for the August exam in 2025.
Presently, there is no uniformity in the MBBS course completion period in the country because of which around 3,000 students will not be able to appear for the NExT part 1.
Sources said that NExT Step 2 will be held in February. Those who won't be able to appear in the August 2025 exam can appear in the February exam. Those who fail to clear the NExT exam Step 1 or are not satisfied with their ranks can also appear in the February exam.
There will be just one counselling for admission to PG courses in a year. However, students can appear for medical PG counselling for the next session based on their NExt February exam.
According to the National Exit Test Regulations-2023, the NExT Step 2 results shall be declared as only "pass or fail" based on the acquisition of appropriate competence that is being evaluated.
The marks from NExT Step 2 will be considered to prepare a merit list for admission into broad speciality PG seats. The NExT Step 1 shall be a theory examination and the questions shall be one or more than one type of multiple-choice type with the examinations being conducted online.
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that NMC NExT Regulations, 2023, were published in the official Gazette on June 28, 2023. "These Regulations shall come into force at once from the date of their publication in the official Gazette," mentioned the apex medical commission.
In fact, a mock test for NExT exam was scheduled to be held on July 28 and it was decided that the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi would conduct the mock test.
However, opposing the decision of conducting the NExT exam for the 2019 batch, the students and doctors termed it to be a violation of the NMC Act, 2019. Referring to the 2019 Act, the doctors pointed out that the 2019 MBBS batch started on August 1, 2019, i.e. the batch started before the publication of the NMC Act 2019. Therefore, the doctors argued that conducting NExT for the 2019 batch would be a violation of the NMC Act 2019.
Even though NMC had announced that the NExT exam would be implemented from the 2019 MBBS batch, the Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya announced at an event at AIIMS Raipur that there will be no NExT Exam for the 2019 MBBS Batch and the exam will not replace the final MBBS examinations.
Consequently, on the basis of the directions and advice of the Union Health Ministry, NMC deferred the NExT examination until further notice from the Ministry. "All the stakeholders are hereby informed that the National Exit Test (NExT) examination is deferred on the advice of the Ministry, dated 11.07.2023, till further directions from the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare," stated the letter issued by NMC Secretary Dr. Pulkesh Kumar.
However, the notification issued by NMC did not address the issue of conducting NExT for the 2019 MBBS Batch and did not give any clarity regarding conducting NExT in the coming few years.
Later, the NExT mock test scheduled to be held on July 28, 2023, was also cancelled and since then there has been no intimation from the side of the NMC regarding the issue of conducting NExT, the common exit cum licentiate examination.
Recently, the Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya informed the Rajya Sabha that National Medical Commission (NMC) prepared the National Exit Test (NExT) Regulations, 2023 after considering around 6500 comments received during the consultation process and finally, the regulations were notified by NMC on 27.06.2023. Apart from this, the Minister clarified before the Parliament that NExT will be a comprehensive computer-based examination based on high-quality multiple- choice questions (MCQ).
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