NEET PG: Centre to Introduce Exit Test to Ensure Quality Doctors can Practice as Specialists: Reports
NEET PG to be taken over by the 'National Exit Test'? A proposal was made by Centre to the Delhi High Court to enhance the quality of the medical and allied services in the country.
New Delhi: On Monday, the Central Government on Monday requested the Delhi High Court that generalizing all the qualified MBBS to be eligible for post-graduate education for specialization might not be a right approach. It emphasized on the fact that NEET-PG is an exam, intended to neutralize various factors such as the quality of education during the UG medical course, the difficulty level of exams, etc. and erode brilliant candidates who has strong chances to call as a specialists
The Centre also proposed to introduce an “exit test”, (just like AIBE for lawyers), to ensure upgraded quality medical and healthcare facilities in the country. This will be a qualifier to be registered as a ‘Specialist Doctor’. The merit list of this test will be considered for admissions to PG courses.
According to the spokesperson from Centre, T Sing Dev, this might be the last year that NEET-PG will be conducted. The centre is planning to conduct the 'National Exit Test'. Similar to AIBE for lawyers, an exit test will be considered for doctors. All MBBS pass outs will have to qualify this exam after which they will be registered as Practitioners.
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The proposal is still under consideration, he clarified. The functionality of the exam is not yet finalized. However, his answer was affirmative when asked if there will be any cut-off for the exam. The development resulted due to a petition filed by three MBBS graduates, seeking relaxation in the cut-off percentile for the admission this year through NEET PG Exam conducted by the Medical Council of India.
The hearing is being conducted infront a Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Navin Chawla. Earlier, the Court had voiced out the fact that reservations on the 'percentile' system adopted for counselling may filter out many brilliant candidates on the grounds that they do not qualify the percentile cut off of 50%. This might also violate the fundamental rights of the candidates and leaves several seats vacant.
Singh Dev demonstrated the data from the previous academic year, where total number of seats were 38,107. The minimum qualifying criteria was 50 percentile (for general category). The last candidate from the general category got a seat at the 50 percentile cut-off had scored 366/1200 marks, corresponding to 30.5%.
After that, there was a reduction by 20 percentile, following which, the last candidate from general got a seat had scored 275/1200 marks, which amounts to 22.91%. However, the lowest marks at which admission was given in reserved category was 19.16%. Total vacant seats in the previous academic year were 1,425.
On knowing this fact, the Bench inquired from the government that when admission into MBBS is tough, then those who qualifies MBBS are supposed to be meritorious. But, how then the quality drops substantially at the end of the course.
Also Read: NEET PG Counselling 2021: Supreme Court’s Denial on Plea to Reduce the Qualifying Percentile
At this point the plausibility of the ‘Exit Test was proposed by Sing Dev after uprising apprising the bench regarding the disparity of the educational quality at different institutions.
The mop-up counselling round deadline is March 30, which will be followed by a stray vacancy round. The percentile for NEET-PG 2021admission was reduced by 15 percentile across all categories by the NBE or National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences last week.