After being in the offing for nearly two years, the National Exit Test (NExT) — meant to replace the final MBBS exams, the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test for postgraduate seats (NEET-PG), and the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE) for foreign medical graduates to practice medicine in India — has hit the pause button yet again this week with the National Medical Commission (NMC), which regulates medical education and medical professionals, seeking comments on the preparation for bringing in this exam.
This latest notice comes after the Union Health Ministry constituted a seven-member committee to examine the preparedness of States and medical colleges for the implementation of the NExT for final-year MBBS students of the 2020 batch, this past October. The NMC Act of 2019 had brought in NExT for India medical students.
The exam was envisaged and brought in to offer a standardised exam across the country for all the existing over 700 medical colleges, including government, semi-government, AIIMS, private, or deemed medical colleges.
The latest public notice from the NMC notes that as per the recommendations of the committee constituted by the approval of the Union Health Minister to examine the implementation/preparation of conducting the National Exit Test (NExT), the valuable feedback of all the stakeholders is invited by the NMC.
“In this regard, the stakeholders are requested to go through the NMC, National Exit Test Regulations, 2023,” said the notice while stating that all the stakeholders concerned have been asked to submit their feedback online by February 7. The latest order seeks to examine the implementation/preparation for conducting the NExT.
IMC opposes
While the Indian Medical Association has been steady in its opposition against NExT stating that it is not possible to implement it in the current scenario until the NMC ensures uniform standards of education across medical colleges in India, medical education experts have noted that the standardisation of the exam will force all medical institutes to maintain at least a minimum standard of the education which would help the students crack the exam. They added that the year-on-year pass percentage would also give a clear indication of the quality of education of the medical college and its standing in the country.
“Despite rules and regulation and efforts by the Health Ministry and the NMC the problem of ghost faculty, low attendance in private medical colleges isn’t new. This exam would have ensured that those taking admission into private medical colleges have a point of reference in the form of pass percentage of the institute in NExT. This is a good initiative by the government,” said a senior Indian Medical Association member who did not want to be named.
Meanwhile, according to the NExT (National Exit Test) Regulations 2023 issued in June last year, the NMC said the exam will be held in two phases with the NExT Step 1 and NExT Step 2 exams being held twice a year. “It is implied that whenever the NExT is in force, the corresponding equivalent existing examinations shall be phased out/cease to be applicable for the purpose for which the NExT shall be appropriate,” the regulations had noted.
While NExT Step 1 was to be a theory examination, the NExT Step 2 examination results were to be declared as only ‘Pass/Fail” based on the acquisition of appropriate competence that is being evaluated while the marks from NExT Step 2 would be considered to prepare a merit list for admission into broad speciality PG seats.
