Centre plans exit exam for MBBS students; FMGE likely to be shelved
Armed with
recommendations from the Medical Council of India (MCI) and the parliamentary
standing committee on health and family welfare, the Centre is considering
instituting an exit examination for MBBS students passing out of government and
private medical colleges.
All students would have
to clear the test before they can start practising medicine, as well as to get
admission in postgraduate medical courses. This year’s National Eligibility cum
Entrance Test – Post Graduate (NEET-PG) is slated for the first week of December.
The Union health
ministry is planning to notify the NEET-PG as the common exit test, which will
replace the myriad university-level examinations that MBBS students have to
take before they start practising medicine. Many countries have such centralised
tests, and experts have long felt that the emphasis on entrance tests for
courses takes away from the need to test students on their way out of the
programme — which is when they actually start seeing patients.
The ministry also
looking at replacing the screening test for foreign medical graduates (FMGE)
with NEET-PG, effectively making it the only test that any MBBS student would
need to take to continue in the field of medicine — as a practitioner or as a
PG student.
Based on the test
scores, there could be a grading mechanism for medical colleges, a senior
official in the ministry said. Sources said the exit examination would ideally
require an amendment by the Parliament to the Indian Medical Council (IMC) Act.
So it may not be possible to introduce NEET-PG as an MBBS exit examination this
year. The modalities are being worked out to ensure a rollout as soon as
possible. “A notification can be issued making NEET-PG the exit examination for
MBBS students, but the decision can be challenged in court. We are in the
process of making changes in the IMC Act on priority as per instructions of the
Prime Minister’s Office. It is currently with the NITI Aayog. Once it comes to
us, we will consider incorporating the exit examination provision,” said a
senior official in the health ministry.
The MCI had recommended to the ministry
last July that there should be an exit examination for MBBS students to ensure
quality. The parliamentary standing committee said: “… there is an urgent need
to introduce a common exit test for doctors, which will go a long way in
standardising the passing out medical graduates and certify the competencies
which are expected to be generated out of him.”