NMC Bill: Fate of MBBS exit exam hangs in balance : The Tribune India

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NMC Bill: Fate of MBBS exit exam hangs in balance

NEW DELHI: The fate of MBBS exit exam proposed in the National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill hangs in balance with strong views emerging against it.



Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 23

The fate of MBBS exit exam proposed in the National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill hangs in balance with strong views emerging against it.

Come tomorrow and representatives of the Indian Medical Association, the most vocal critic of the National Licensiate Exam, will appear before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health currently hearing opinions on the NMC Bill.

The committee, in its first meeting on January 12, engaged officials of the Health Ministry who argued for three important elements of the Bill — exit exam for MBBS pass outs; bridge course to enable Ayush practitioners to dispense with a select set of allopathic medicines part regulation of fees in private medical colleges.

In its second meeting tomorrow, the committee will hear all non-Health Ministry stakeholders in the NMC Bill, including the IMA representatives, people from civil society and also Ayush practitioners and officials from Ayush Ministry.

The Tribune has, meanwhile, learnt that majority of the committee members are against the concept of an MBBS exit exam and feel it would unnecessarily burden students once they have graduated.

The NMC Bill, 2017, is primarily based on the 92nd report of the Parliamentary Committee on Health which had suggested a national licensiate exam to test the quality of the graduating MBBS students.

However, that proposal was made at a time when the government had not introduced the common medical entrance exam for all colleges – the NEET (national eligibility cum entrance exam).

Members of the committee say now that NEET has been introduced, the exit exam won’t serve any purpose.

“The NMC Bill only recommends what the parliamentary panel suggested by way of an exit exam but that proposal was made to ensure good quality MBBS graduates at a time when there was no national-level common entrance test and the quality of private medical education was suspect. Today, all colleges are required to take students from the NEET pool and so only meritorious students are entering the system. Now, there is no need to test MBBS students once they have completed the course,” says a committee member.

The panel is likely to recommend that the government instead consider testing the MBBS students while they are studying medicine rather than after they have graduated. “A view is emerging that there can be one standard test for all MBBS students in the final year but this test should be held before the students complete their course,” an MP said.

On cross discipline, there is a mixed response in the committee with majority MPs in favour of allowing Ayush practitioners to take a bridge course to dispense some pre-decided set of medicines to cure common ailments. In Maharashtra, this is already being done.

On fee regulation — the NMC Bill proposes to regulate 40 per cent seats in all private medical colleges — most committee members are in agreement with the government with some proposing a higher percentage for regulation to ensure that low income group meritorious students entering private colleges through NEET can also afford to pay for their education.

The committee is to submit its report to the government before the commencement of the Budget session of Parliament.

The government has proposed the exit exam to test the quality of the medical graduate like the UK, Japan, Canada and many other countries do.

Likely recommendation

  • The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health is likely to recommend that the government consider testing the MBBS students while they are studying medicine rather than after they have graduated
  • “A view is emerging that there can be one standard test for all MBBS students in the final year but this test should be held before the students complete their course,” an MP said

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