The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, has proposed amendments to the National Medical Commission (NMC) Act of 2019. The proposed draft amendments have been released in the public domain for feedback and comments.
A major component of these amendments is the establishment of the Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (BEMS), which will be constituted under Section 16 of the NMC Act. The BEMS will replace the National Board of Examination in Medical Sciences and will conduct the National Exit Test (NExT), as well as exit exams for the Diploma, Diplomate and Fellowship postgraduate and Diplomate and Fellowship super-speciality medical courses. The NBEMS, which used to conduct the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test Postgraduation (NEET PG) for admissions into PG medical courses and the Diplomat National Board Post Diploma Centralised Entrance Test (DNB PDCET), was an autonomous body under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
The NBEMS also conducted the screening test for foreign medical graduates to practice medicine in India, known as the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE). The FMGE and NEET PG will now be replaced by the National Exit Test which will be the single licentiate and entrance exam for MBBS graduates to register in the National and State medical registers and qualify for PG medical courses in the country. The NExT exam, which is scheduled to be conducted in December 2023, will now be conducted by the newly constituted Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences under the NMC. The draft regulations for the NExT exam, which was first proposed as part of the NMC Act in 2019, were issued in December 2022 for public review by the NMC.
The NMC, in the draft regulations for the BEMS, has also stated that the BEMS will possess the authority to determine minimum requirements for medical universities to conduct exams for Diploma, Diplomate and Fellowship postgraduate and Diplomate and Fellowship super-speciality courses, and accredit them for the same. The BEMS will also conduct the exit exams for these courses and grant degrees for the same. Apart from NExT and the Diploma and Fellowship exams, the BEMS is also authorised to conduct any examination of any medical institution as directed by the NMC or the Central government.
Apart from the provisions for the BEMS, the fresh draft regulations to the NMC Act (2019) also proposed that the NBEMS will be dissolved. Any medical institute accreditated with conducting Diploma courses or exams by the NBEMS shall be eligible to do so until the expiry of the concerned order. Similarly, any rules framed by the NBEMS shall continue to be in force until they are amended by the Commission. In addition to that, any subsidiaries, owned trusts, assets and liabilities of the NBEMS will be transferred to the NMC.
The draft regulations also state that any legal action pursued against the NMC or the central government by any medical institution in the country must be done so only through cases filed in the Delhi High Court.
The delay in the release of results and the start of the counselling for the NEET PG exam, and the alleged lack of transparency in the conduct of the FMGE, where answer scripts were not made available to the students, created controversy last year. Critics claimed that this was due to a lack of accountability and transparency on the part of the NBEMS, and a lack of communication between the NMC, the NBEMS and the MoHFW.
"Vesting control of the NExT exam in one body (BEMS) might remove the lack of coordination between the various bodies that led to chaos last year. It will help speed up the process of admissions and bring the academic calendar back on track," said Rohan Krishnan, National Chairman of the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA). Concurring with this thought, Dr Meet Ghonia, Standing Committee Member of the Junior Doctors Association said that this move will make the exam and counselling process "smoother." He expressed hope that the BEMS will be more transparent in its functioning than its predecessor.
"We want the NMC and the MoHFW to ensure that no corrupt official is appointed to the BEMS. NExT is a sensitive exam, and it should be ensured that it remains free from corruption and malpractice. The members appointed to the board must be scrutinsed, and should include a mix of experienced and young doctors," Krishnan added.
