The Union Cabinet on Wednesday cleared a bill to set up a National Medical Commission (NMC), which will have responsibilities such as approving and assessing medical colleges, conducting common MBBS entrance and exit examinations and regulating course fees. The National Medical Commission Bill 2019 proposes to repeal the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956. NMC will replace the Medical Council of India (MCI), which was dissolved in 2010 following corruption charges.
The common final year MBBS exam will now be known as the National Exit Test (NEXT) to start medical practice, seek admissions to post-graduate medical courses and as a screening test for foreign medical graduates. The bill also seeks to make the national medical entrance exam, the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), common counseling and NEXT applicable to Institutes of National Importance (INIs) such as the All…
