New Delhi: The first National Exit test (NExT), a common licentiate examination to replace university-level final MBBS examination, National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-PG (NEET-PG) and Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE), will be conducted in May, 2024.
Clearing this examination will be a must to receive a registration as a doctor to practice medicine in India. It will also serve as a test for postgraduate selections for all specialties.
The National Medical Commission (NMC) made this announcement in a virtual meeting with medical colleges across India Tuesday, said sources in the Commission.
The meeting was chaired by NMC chairman Dr Suresh Chandra Sharma. ThePrint tried reaching Sharma over the call but he was not available for comments.
The medical education regulator also announced that the first step of NExT or NExT-1, which will test students on theoretical aspects, will be held twice annually in May and November while NExT- 2 which will evaluate students on practical and clinical skills will be held once a year.
First NExT-2 scheduled for June 2025
Sources in the Commission also said that while NExT-1 will be conducted next year for MBBS batch of 2021, batches prior to 2019 can also appear in the test but counseling process for the PG course will be done after a year when NExT-2 is completed for 2019 batch in 2025.
“Also, NEET PG 2024 will be the last NEET PG for admission in PG courses in medicine,” said an official in the Commission.
This examination is likely to be conducted between January and March next year, and batches prior to 2019 are eligible to appear in it.
The sources, however, said that the meeting did not clearly mention who will organise NExT.
The NMC had earlier written to the Union health ministry asking for its permission to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi to conduct the examination. It had argued that the AIIMS is in a better position to organise the test as it is a simulation based test where dummy patients may be used for testing clinical learning of medical students.
Currently, medical colleges conduct final-year MBBS examinations while the National Board of Examinations (NBE) under the director general of health services in the ministry is responsible for NEET PG and FMGE.
The government has pitched NExT as a measure to improve the quality of MBBS students getting license to practice every year, saying that they currently focus mainly on clearing NEET-PG which is fully a theoretical examination and involves rote learning.
Meanwhile, the NMC’s announcement comes even as a Kerala association of MBBS students from the 2019 batch had written to the Commission requesting exemption from NExT on the grounds that their studies were heavily disrupted due to the Covid pandemic.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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