Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin has strongly opposed the National Exit Test (NExT) calling the medical license exam an additional burden on medical students.
Stalin also added that it is, "another attempt to dilute the role of State Governments and universities in the health sector.”
He also wrote a letter to PM Narendra Modi stressing that the Tamil Nadu government has been consistent in its opposition to the introduction of NEET (National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test) and NExT in any form for both undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) medical admissions, reported PTI.
"The NEET-based medical admission system under the National Medical Commission (NMC) Act has already adversely impacted the equitable, school education-based selection process and its contribution to the strengthening of the public health system,” the letter read
He also added that the introduction of NExT will surely exacerbate this trend and cause irreparable damage to the interest of rural and socially disadvantaged students and the public institutions under state governments.
As per PTI, Stalin opined that the introduction of such a common exit test will definitely be an additional burden on the students and hence, needs to be strictly avoided.
“The introduction of such a course as a mandatory exit test will also hamper clinical learning, which is vital for MBBS graduates," Stalin stated in the letter to the PM.
He said that young medical graduates focus both on the theoretical and clinical aspects of medical science and only after graduation, the students who opt for PG admissions focus on theoretical PG exams.
About NExT
According to the National Medical Commission (NMC) Act, NExT will serve as a licentiate exam mandatory for undergraduate medical students to practice in India or for admissions into postgraduate medical courses in India.
NExT will be held next year and is likely to be conducted by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi.
The government had in September last year invoked the provisions of the NMC Act by which the time limit for conducting NExT for the final year MBBS was extended till September 2024.
