How medical exit exam can improve healthcare

National Exit Test (NExT) is meant to accomplish three objectives—serving as the final MBBS examination's passing test, a prerequisite exam for the licence to practise contemporary medicine in India for both Indian and foreign medical graduates, and a competitive examination to evaluate applicants for postgraduate broad-speciality programmes at Indian medical institutions.

It is being introduced in India to eliminate the need for numerous entrance exams for admission to postgraduate programmes and ensure standardisation in the minimal criteria of the final MBBS test and guarantee the validity, reliability, and acceptability of the assessment. Its execution will be overseen by the NMC/central government.

The idea of NExT is already prevalent in many countries like the USA, UK, Canada and Australia. Exams like NExT are intended to check for quality in medical education. Even though the specifics of the exam are still being decided on and its execution has been postponed, the exam, if executed properly, will be a turnaround for medical education in India.

Reforming education

Expected to meet international standards, NExT will inspire the universities to raise the bar of instruction and training to a decent level. It will end the culture of rote learning by thoroughly assessing critical thinking abilities and serve as a reminder to private Indian medical colleges to raise their standards. It will replace NEET PG which was posing a problem by being placed straight after the internship, depriving students of more practical exposure.

NExT will make teachers and administrators pay more attention to students who struggle academically, enhance the classroom environment and increase students’ desire to learn. This exam will serve as the benchmark to improve the medical industry's infrastructure and other aspects of medical education.

Improved rural healthcare

In India, 70% of people reside in rural areas that are catered to by 3% of doctors residing in rural setups. This is a major problem for those who are chronically unwell and need sophisticated, intensive, long-term monitoring and treatment plans.

Exam requirements will make it mandatory for practitioners to serve in rural and tribal setups. Even the candidates who will be enrolling in an MD, MS, or other PG medical programme will have to complete an additional three years of employment in rural or tribal areas related to their chosen expertise.

This is likely to improve the standard of rural healthcare and introduce transparency, responsibility, and standardisation within the medical profession.

Only MBBS graduates with the necessary theoretical and practical knowledge will be permitted to practise with the introduction of a single assessment, licentiate, and exit exam. This will establish standard best practices across the country and serve as a uniform criterion for evaluating students.

Students who have studied abroad do not need any additional screening tests if they pass the NExT. Also, incorporating more doctors into society becomes possible with only one exam for both domestic and foreign graduates.

There is proof that central exams have an impact on long-term economic performance in addition to the educational system. Additionally, marks from central tests are more valuable as information on the job market than those from local exams and they work well with school autonomy. Its introduction will curb many unethical practices prevalent in state exams.

Issues of concern

However, doubts also exist despite all these favourable factors. For instance, the students believe that NExT will increase their burden and risk stakes in medical education. They fear that the tests will be demanding, and failing it will require repeating an entire year.

There was a great deal of ambiguity related to the final draft and execution. The draft rules published in December have cleared many of the confusions. There is no restriction to the number of attempts for the NExT exam, but a medical student must complete both steps of the test within 10 years of joining the MBBS course.

Medical education in India is expanding in lockstep with the healthcare industry because of the country’s population, the global need for doctors, new government rules, and developments in medicines and medical technology. The improvement of the educational system through NExT will be an essential step to closing the gap in the Indian healthcare system.

(The author is the CEO of a medical coaching institute)