On July 6, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, replying to a student's query at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Raipur during an interaction session, mentioned that the National Exit Test (NExT) will not be implemented for the 2019 MBBS batch, but would come into force from the next batch.
However, in the absence of any official notice from the National Medical Commission (NMC) in this regard, students are in utter confusion. With no response to their emails from the authorities either, they vent out their concerns on Twitter.
Deepak Mehra, an MBBS student from the Government Karwar Institute of Medical Science, Karwar, Karnataka, writes, "#NMC Should realise the Current Situation among Students and immediately should release the official Notice regarding #Nextexam and clear its stand regarding HM."
"It's high time, @NMC_IND should release the notice until it's too late so that the colleges can accommodate with the sudden change in pattern," reads another tweet from a medico who calls herself Soni.
In the meantime, health activist Dr Vivek Pandey asked the government to clear its stance immediately and destress the students. "It's a request to @mansukhmandviya sir kindly release official notice for MBBS 2019 batch that they are not going to give upcoming Next Exam. Thousands of medicos are still In doubt. @MoHFW_INDIA @NMC_IND @OfficeOf_MM," he tweeted.
Students from the 2019 batch are additionally wondering if they should appear for the mock test scheduled on July 28, for which most of them have already registered. While the 2019 batch wallows in confusion, the 2020 batch is also not prepared for the new exam. Tweets demanding that the exam be done away with are also galore.
The All India Medical Students' Association (AIMSA) writes, "#AIMSA will run All Over India movement against #NEXT! #AIMSA requests to Union Health Minister that we don't want #NEXT exam for any Batch of MBBS." A similar tweet from the All India Students' Union (AISU) reads, "STOP imposing NEXT on unmatched curriculum batches! It causes undue mental distress among students. #NONEXTFOR2019BATCH #NEXTEXAM."
As the social media platform remains occupied with tweets against the exam, students are also resorting to physical protests. In Tamil Nadu, doctors across all government medical colleges will sport black badges while working on Tuesday, July 11, demanding that NExT be scrapped.
