NEW DELHI  :- NExT: The National Medical Commission (NMC) recently announced that the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi, will conduct the National Exit Test (NExT). The Commission had also hinted earlier that the NExT is scheduled to begin with the batch passing out in 2024.

Following the announcement, AIIMS also issued a timeline and started the registration process for a mock test on July 28. However, in a viral video of an event at AIIMS Raipur on July 6, Union Health Minister Mansukh L Mandaviya was heard saying the NExT would not be conducted for the 2019 batch.

This statement by the health minister and the silence from the NMC have further confused medical students. While some students have been organising protests, others have taken to social media platforms to voice their concerns.

“What has caused the main chaos and panic is the way this exam was implemented. Authorities should have considered that MBBS students start preparing for NEET PG in the third year of MBBS. So, when we suddenly learned that we had to appear for the NExT instead of NEET PG, it confused us about how to prepare. But now, with the new statement, we are not even sure whether we need to prepare for NExT or NEET PG,” Mohammed Muddassir M Z, a final year MBBS student from Kanachur Institute Of Medical Sciences (Karnataka), told indianexpress.com.

Agreeing with this, Abdul Hai, a final-year MBBS student from Uttar Pradesh University of Medical Science, Saifai, Etawah (UP), added that the marking pattern for the NExT has also left students worried. “We have more than 10 subjects to prepare for the NEET PG exam, and while preparing for that, we were surprised by the NExT exam. Now we have to start preparing for that from scratch. On top of this, the marking pattern of the NExT is bound to make everything tougher for us. Be it negative marking or distribution of marks, types of questions, the new pattern has made us all worry about whether or not we will even be able to clear this exam,” Abdul said.

Considering that the MBBS testing pattern has not been MCQ based and currently there are only 10 per cent of multiple choice questions, the rest 90 per cent are subjective, Aggarwal believes that having an MCQ mode of exam for PG entrance is well understood.

“But using the same format for medical licensing that too with negative marks can never be justified. MBBS students are trained all along in the subjective method. Neither students nor teachers are aware or trained in the MCQ method, and suddenly changing the exam pattern will only help in mushrooming of entrance coaching centres and divert the students’ main purpose from learning and acquiring clinical skills to mugging entrance questions,” said Dr Vinay Aggarwal, former national president, IMA, and chairman of Action Committee IMA.

However, now that the health minister said in a gathering that the NExT would be conducted for the 2020 batch, some experts appreciate the ministry for considering students’ pleas.

“NMC should conduct an examination to see if they are good enough for registration, but the university itself should give the degree. The university has been granted permission from the UGC to give degrees to the MBBS graduates and the university grants permission to colleges to conduct the course. If you are not going to give the authority to give a degree, I think that it is pretty unfair for the universities because we have universities which are much more popular, educationist and have more experts. AIIMS Delhi has no moral right to interfere in the work distribution system of the university,” said Rohan Krishnan, chairman of the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA).

This statement, though, has left students more confused. The 2019 MBBS batch is now claiming that the ‘casual’ statement from the health minister has put them in a spot regarding whether to prepare for the NExT or NEET PG.

“We had been preparing for the NEET PG exam while studying for our MBBS degree side-by-side, and some of us are even doing internships. We started studying for NEET PG but then had to shift to the NExT after that, and now we have to shift back to NEET PG, maybe? This is nothing short of ‘hell’ for MBBS students right now,” said Syed Kalandar, an MBBS Intern at Kanachur Institute of Medical Sciences, Mangalore (Karnataka).

Some experts, too, believe that the constant back and forth is confusing students even more, especially when the NEET PG aspirants have been preparing for the exam for three years and are currently busy with their final university exams or internship.

“The NExT was not needed at all; the authorities could have simply combined NEET PG and FMGE instead of bringing in new exams and confusing students. It is true that the implementation of this exam is wrong, as this comes at a time when students should have been concentrating on practical lessons, but now interns are missing their lessons to prepare for this new exam. However, what is more worrisome is the mere introduction of this exam. NEET PG could have been modified rather than bringing new things. Right now, authorities are concentrating more on introducing new things, rather than improving the quality of the existing things — be it medical exams, colleges or courses,” said Rajiv Ranjan Prasad, Dean of Aryabhatta Knowledge University.

Agreeing that this new exit exam will only distract students, some experts believe the NExT is “neither feasible nor desirable”.

“This exam will deny the medical students their legitimate right to practice Medicine and deprive society of the services of qualified doctors. As such, we all know that medical students are equipped to practise Medicine not through the tests they undergo but through the course, curriculum and training. Exam topper may not be the best Doctor. We must ensure the best standards of medical education and the right connection with society,” said Dr Vinay Aggarwal.

Click Here for More Exams / Admission