NEW DELHI: Congress party’s electoral promise of revisiting the medical entrance test National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) and make it optional for state-funded institutions, has received a mixed response from the medical fraternity.
While a section welcomed Congress promise saying it will give “more autonomy” to state medical colleges, others opposed it, claiming that it would lead to “operational delay” in counselling due to involvement of multiple agencies.
Calling it “impressive”, the Federation of All India Medical Associations (FAIMA) said, “The manifesto is focused on improving the healthcare structure of the nation.”
“Long standing demands of medical associations such as ours are addressed in the manifesto like reframing the National Medical Commission and restoring the autonomy of the institution,” Dr Rohan Krishnan, chairman, FAIMA, commented.
“It is also focusing on violence against doctors and a separate act which was promised by the present government during the pandemic but never implemented. Also , there is a serious issue of lack of medicines and instruments in OTs which is needed for the patient and requires attention from the government. The Rajasthan health model has performed better than Ayushman Bharat Yojna by Govt of India & it should be planned to be implemented in other states as well,” Krishnan added.
Meanwhile, the Federation of Resident Doctors Association (FORDA) called the announcement concerning development citing that it will weaken the transparency in medical institutions.
“It’s concerning to see the Congress party’s proposal to make centrally-conducted qualifying examinations like NEET optional. NEET was established to bring uniformity and transparency to medical education assessments, addressing the chaos of various state-level exams and subsequent counselling processes,” said Dr Aviral Mathur, President, FORDA.
While Mathur acknowledged NEET having shortcomings, he maintained that its decentralization would lead to a nationwide disparity.