The Kerala Unit of the Indian Medical Association has opposed the center’ s proposal to introduce a licensing or qualifying exam, the National Exit Test (NEXT), for MBBS graduates to qualify themselves as doctors and to secure registration for clinical practice. The proposal has been mooted by the Union Health Ministry as part of the draft Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Act, 2016, in order to create a level-playing field in medical education.
The proposed NEXT could be a benchmark for students and will substitute the NEET for postgraduate medical admissions, recruitment for Central Health Services and the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE). The IMA said that it was unfair that medical students who came through a national qualifying NEET test and had then completed the MBBS course as per the curriculum fixed by the Medical Council of India were being asked to go through…
