With this move, passing MBBS alone will now not be sufficient to allow a person to carry on with medical practice. Medical graduates would now be required to pass a qualifying examination to get a practioner’s licence.
Following the implementation of common entrance exam for medical studies – National Eligibility Entrance Examination Test (NEET) – the government is all set to make exit exam mandatory for all medical graduates from this year onwards. The move has been initiated to put a check on ‘certificate’ doctors, who manage to get an MBBS degree and start practising, putting the lives of people at risk.
According to a senior health ministry official, the exit exam has been planned to improve the quality of doctors in the country. “The government is making it a must for all MBBS pass-outs to take the exit exam and only after passing the quality test, the MBBS graduates would be given the licence to practice,” the official said, adding that the successful candidates would also be allowed to get admission in PG courses according to the merit list of exit exam. The students who fail to pass the quality test would be held back from post-graduate studies.
The exit exam would be mandatory for pass-outs of both government and private medical colleges. Once it comes into force, the Health Ministry would scrap the Foreign Medical Graduates Examination (FMGE), which is being conducted by the MCI to grant practitioner’s licences to Indians having MBBS degree from foreign countries such as China, Russia, Germany, Nepal, etc. According to sources, the ministry wants foreign graduates to take NEET exam for admission in PG courses and exit exam for the licence.
The FMGE is a screening test recognised by the MCI, which was introduced in 2002 as a qualifying examination for Indian students holding medical degrees from other countries and intending to practice medicine in India. Every year above 3,000 Indian students come back to practise with a foreign medical degree and they have to pass the screening test conducted by National Board of Examination.
Commenting on the move, Meenakshi T Sahu, an MBBS graduate from Banaras Hindu University, said, “When government is mandating exit exam for MBBS graduates, why is such a test not being contemplated for lawyers, whose practise too affects lives of people.” Adding further, Sahu said, “With so many tests being imposed on doctors, the day will come when the medical profession would lose its sheen and students would opt for MBA and other courses.”
According to the ministry’s data, about 1,00,000 doctors take post-graduate medical examinations across the country every year and only around 25,000 make the cut. The remaining immediately start medical practice.