In Tamil Nadu, students from government medical colleges will be organising a black badge protest tomorrow, July 10. This is against the National Medical Commission's (NMC) recently proposed National Exit Test (NExT).
Once the protests are carried out, the future course of action will be decided upon by the Doctors Association for Social Equality (DASE) and the Tamil Nadu Medical Students Association (TNMSA) and Doctors Association, stated a report in The New Indian Express.
Aiming to be a qualifying exam for final-year MBBS students, a postgraduate (PG) exam and a licentiate exam to practice modern medicine, NExT will be a qualifying examination for admission, based purely on merit, to PG courses and it will be a screening exam which will replace the Foreign Medical Graduates Examination (FMGE).
Opinions on NExT from Tamil Nadu
"This will be an additional burden for MBBS students as they cannot prepare for competitive exams while doing their internship. During the internship period, students are burdened with work in wards and it will be difficult to prepare for a competitive exam," Dr B Vignesh, a house surgeon at Thanjavur Government Medical College, said.
"To pass NeXT, students should take six exams in three days. It also carries negative marks. This will make MBBS students concentrate more on theory and not on practicals. They will not have clinical knowledge. In the present system of one-year internships, students gain more clinical knowledge. This competitive exam will add stress on students," I Porkudi, a final-year MBBS student at Tiruvarur Government Medical College said.
When universities are the certified institutions to give away the MBBS degree, how can a central body decide on the degree, questions Dr Keerth Varman, President, Tamil Nadu Medical Students Association. "The exam pattern varies from state to state. How can the Centre decide on a common pattern?" Keerthy said.
"The medical students will work wearing black badges on Tuesday. The next course of action will be decided after discussing it with the students. Online meetings also will be conducted to get the opinion of students. Even Madhya Pradesh and other northern states are opposing. Without any field studies they cannot introduce NExT," Keerthy said.
"This is an attempt by the union government to centralise medical education. They cannot take powers from the state universities. DASE along with TNMSA will conduct a statewide conference to get the opinion of the students on NExT," Dr GR Ravindranath, General Secretary, Doctors Association for Social Equality said.
