Medical licentiate exam after qualifying MBBS is injustice to the medical students

The introduction of this exam defeats the very purpose of a competitive exam

New Delhi, January 24, 2018: A five and half year medical degree won’t be enough for doctors to practice now. The clearance of the National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill has paved the way for the exit exam for medical graduates. This move has ended the era of Medical Council of India (MCI) as the apex medical education regulator. The NMC Bill seeks to develop the medical sector in many ways and proposes for the first time an exit exam for MBBS graduates who would have to clear this test to get practicing licenses.

The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) brought all aspiring medical candidates under one ambit. An analysis of the data of NEET conducted by CBSE showed that 11, 38,890 candidates were registered for NEET-2017 and 10, 90,085 appeared in NEET. Of these 6, 11,739 candidates were declared qualified. About 5,43,473 candidates had the qualifying criteria as 50th percentile with marks ranging from 697 to 131 out of the total 720. The candidates securing as high as 96.8% marks and getting as low as 18.2% marks were eligible for admission to the MBBS course.

Speaking about this, Padma Shri Awardee Dr K K Aggarwal, President Heart Care Foundation of India (HCFI) and Immediate Past National President Indian Medical Association (IMA), said, “Competitive exams mean to select the best of the candidates. But today the same is not true in NEET and PGNEET where the method used is 50th/40th percentile. The medical profession deserves a human resource which does not compromise the quality healthcare. The knowledge of medicine should be excellent in quality. In 40th percentile among various categories the marks range between 130 and 107 out of 720.  The maximum marks obtained were 18.05% of total and the low was 14.8 %. These were the 68,266 candidates. NEET, which is a competitive eligibility examination, has allowed the admissions of candidates who were lower in ranks. The one who loses out for admission following NEET, is often the weakest student in terms of money and influence.”

The percentage required to qualify for any medical PG course was 50% for general candidates, cut off for OBC/SC/ST was 40% while for PWD category the cut off was 45%. Now. The government gave a concession of 7% and after reduction, the cut- off percentage for general category will be 42.5 %, 32.5 % OBC/ SC/ ST categories, and 37.5 % for PWD candidates.

Adding further, Dr Aggarwal, said, “The very purpose of the competitive examination stands defeated, when one has to fill the required number of seats in a medical college with all and sundry, rather than best available candidates under the guise of 50th/40th percentile. Instituting a Medical Licentiate exam after qualifying in the final MBBS exam is an injustice. This shows the height of insensitivity to the plight of medical students who even otherwise undergo a long and tortuous academic career replete with highly competitive exams.”