Medical graduates will have to sit for exit test to practice medicine

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is all set to introduce an exit test for all medical graduates to be eligible to practice medicine in the country. This is in keeping with the suggestions made by a committee led by NITI Aayog chairman Arvind Panagariya to overhaul medical education.

The ministry has prepared the draft Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Bill, 2016 to introduce Exit Examination for MBBS level; combined counselling for undergraduate and post graduate levels; reserving up to 50% of seats in PG courses for “medical officers”, and sought people’s feedback on the matter. The last date for giving feedback was on Friday.

As per the draft Bill, there will be one uniform National Exit Test (NEXT) for all medical educational institutions at the undergraduate level. It will be conducted in English and will substitute the uniform entrance examination conducted for the post-graduate level. This means that NEXT will serve two purposes—giving MBBS graduates the licence to practice medicine; and give admission to them for