IMA AND MEDICAL STUDENT PROTEST AGAINST EXIT EXAM ALL OVER INDIA

IMA AND MEDICAL STUDENT PROTEST AGAINST EXIT EXAM ALL OVER INDIA

The Union Health Ministry on December 29^th 2016 unveiled the draft Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Bill 2016 according to which MBBS students will now be required to qualify the National Exit Test (NEXT).The draft makes provision for an exit test (National Exit Test or NEXT) for MBBS graduates to qualify for medical practice. This provision aimed at providing a level-playing field to both government and private college students. A Central Government Official stated that National Exit Test (NEXT) will help enhance the quality of medical education in the nation and help benchmark students.

The Quota

The bill suggests that 50% seats in all government medical colleges should be reserved for Government/UT medical officers.

Only the medical officers who have served in remote and difficult areas will be eligible for the quota.

And after getting a PG degree through this quota, the candidate will be required to serve in difficult and/or remote area for 3 more years.

NEXT will substitute 3 tests

1. NEET for PG admissions

2. Foreign Graduate Medical Examination

3. Recruitment for Central Health Services.

NEXT : An outcome-based test

The results of how candidates from individual colleges have performed in NEXT will be made public. In case a college has more than 90% of candidates qualifying NEXT, it will automatically serve as an indicator that the college provides quality education and candidates will then be able to make an informed choice while selecting colleges.

Dr P Shingare, Head of State Department of Medical Education & Research stated that NEXT is a good move. He added that Students from different universities cannot be equated in terms of their medical competence and NEXT will bring about standardization in this direction.

A professor stated that an inspection by authorities can merely rate the infrastructure of a college and the outcome of NEXT will serve as a tangible parameter to ascertain the quality of that college.

 

Such a move will belittle the scope of the MBBS exam. Why have another exam when students anyway write the final-year MBBS exam? Does it mean the degree is invalid?

India already is facing a shortage of 4 lakh doctors and 10 lakh nurses. Any such rule will demotivate students as it will degrade MBBS as a degree

 

1.   This exam will further reduce the number of MBBS graduates in India and  distort the     doctor patient ratio more.
2.    Doing MBBS from India and abroad will not make any difference anymore,    since the     student will have to take the licensing exam in both the cases. So      more students will     chose to graduate abroad.
3.    MBBS graduates who have not cleared NEXT will be left unemployed or they      might     be exploited by private hospitals at very low salaries.

During the last week Medical students all over the India including both from government college and private college boycotted classes and hold protest and rallies outside their colleges. The protest is being conducted under the aegis of the All Indian Medical Association (IMA).

Earlier an online survey was conducted according to which:

A total of 1.68 lakh people sent their opinion to MOHFW out Of which 96,000 were sent against the bill and 72,000 were sent in favor of the bill.

Opinions:

 President of IMA Belagavi Chapter Prakash Rao said that NEXT would lead to discrimination against Indian graduates. It was also matter of concern that if a student failed to clear NEXT, he/she would be compelled to study one more year. Such a situation would further widen the doctor-patient ratio.

IMA general secretary Anil Patil said students of MBBS and doctors were opposed to NEXT and therefore, the government should reconsider its proposal and withdraw it immediately

Dr RS Kapoor, president of IMA (Agra ), said, "It is mere harassment of medical students and would create a lot of trouble for them."

Dr DD Choudhury, honorary secretary general, (IMA-Uttarakhand), said, "A medical student goes through a series examinations in all subjects - theory, clinical and viva - with the bar being already set high at 50% marks. Subjecting the budding doctors to another exit exam is nothing but harassment. The same bill also plans to exempt foreign graduates from qualifying the exam to allow practice in India and this is absolutely bizarre."