NEXT: Licence to practise MBBS

NEW DELHI: Soon, medical graduates will have to clear a National level “exit test” (NEXT) to practise medicine in India. The uniform National Exit Test (NEXT) as proposed by the government will be the first ever, four-in-one test that will be conducted for MBBS graduates, foreign medical graduates, postgraduate aspirants, and the Union Public Service Commission-CMS (combined medical services) aspirants so as to become eligible to practise medicine in the country.

Serving four purposes, the exam therefore will substitute the existing All India Postgraduate Entrance Test conducted annually, the UPSC-CMS exam which is conducted to recruit medical graduates into a variety of central government organisations and the foreign graduate medical exam, mandatory for foreign medical graduates to practise in India.  

Union health ministry officials believe that the move will standardise the medical education in India. It gains significance as earlier the parliamentary standing committee in its report had said there was an urgent need to introduce a common exit test for doctors, which would go a long way in standardising the passing out medical graduates and certify the competencies which are expected to be generated out of them.

Once introduced, the exam will also reduce the burden of multiple exams for medical aspirants in the country.

Medical Council invites suggestions
“The idea is to do away with multiple exams held for those wanting to practise medicine in India. This is set to reduce the burden on medical students,” said a senior official in the ministry. To introduce the new exam from next academic session, the Union health ministry has proposed amendments to the IMC (Amendment) Bill 2016 and has put it on their website, inviting suggestions by January 6, 2017.

The exit exam proposed from the 2017-18 academic session will also make it mandatory for the graduates to attain minimum prescribed percentiles to practise medicine.