NEW DELHI: The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has written to the National Medical Commission (NMC), saying that the implementation of the NExT without proper evaluation would jeopardise the affordability and accessibility of medical education.
It urged the NMC, which regulates medical education and medical professionals in India, to reconsider certain provisions. “We cannot afford to train doctors and deny degree to practise,” IMA, which has over 3,50,000 members, said in a statement.
It also pointed out that currently uniform standards of medical education across all academic institutions do not exist and testing the entire country with one test would not be feasible.
NExT is a postgraduate medical exam designed with the dual purpose of acting as a qualifying assessment for final-year MBBS students and as a licensure examination for healthcare practitioners seeking to practice modern medicine.