National Exit Test To Be Held In 2024, Likely To Be Conducted By AIIMS-Delhi: Sources

According to the National Medical Commission (NMC) Act, the National Exit Test (NExT) will serve as a common qualifying final year MBBS?exam, a licentiate?exam?to practice modern medicine and for merit-based admission to postgraduate courses and a screening?exam?for foreign medical graduates who want to practice in India.

The government had in September last year invoked the provisions of the NMC Act by which the time limit for conducting the?NExT?exam?for the final year MBBS was extended till September 2024.?

Under the NMC Act, the Commission?has to conduct a common final year undergraduate medical examination,?NExT, as specified by regulations within three years of it?coming?into force. The Act came into force in September?2020. The timeline was extended last year, officials stated. ? ? ? ? ?

According to the sources, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi may conduct the test instead of the?National?Board?of?Examinations?in Medical Sciences (NBEMS), but no decision has yet been taken in this regard. ? ? ? ? ?

Conducting the?NExT?exam?requires preparations such as working out the modalities and deciding on the?syllabus, type and pattern of the examination, whether it will be an analytical or a multiple choice questions based test, and the number of?tests?and requisite regulations, among others, officials said, adding that students will also have to be given adequate?time to prepare.?

Mock?tests?would need to be carried out before the main test is held.??The importance of the?NExt?exam?lies in the fact that it will be the same for everyone, whether trained in India or any part of the world, and hence, it will solve the problem of foreign medical graduates (FMGs)/mutual recognition, officials said. As of now, final year MBBS examinations are conducted by respective colleges, while the NEET-PG?and FMGE are conducted by NBE.