NeXT 2023 to merge NEET PG, FMGE from next year

An RTI reply, filed on August 23 stated that the National Medical Commission will organise the common final year undergraduate medical exam NeXT from next year.

Recently, the National Medical Council said that it is unlikely that the National Exit Test (NEXT) will take place in the next six months, now an RTI file on August 23 said that the exam will be held next year in 2023.

“As per Section (15) 1 of the NMC Act 2019, NMC will organise a common final year undergraduate medical examination, to be known as the National Exit Test for granting licence for practising medicine as medical practitioners and for enrolment in the State Medical Register or the National Medical Register, as the case may be. The NEXT will be implemented from 2023," reads the RTI reply adding that the modalities of the exam will be clear once NMC publishes the regulations, , as reported by News 18.

NeXT will be conducted by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) New Delhi along with the National Medical Commission (NMC) and it will merge the NEET PG and Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE).

NeXT will also serve as the licensing examination to provide the license to the final year MBBS students to practice medicine in India after the course is completed. NeXT is also likely to be the criteria for admissions in the PG and diploma courses in various medical courses.

The common exam was introduced in medical education by the government in 2020 and once started it will be mandatory to pass the exam to get a practising license in India. Through a notification in July 2021, NMC said that the test would be conducted in the first half of 2023 and a mock test will be released before that so that the students will get an idea of the pattern.

On August 30, representatives of the Indian Medical Association- Medical Students Network (IMA-MSN) met National Medical Commission (NMC) board members with their various concerns and demands on the NeXT exam.

Read more:

• No MBBS NexT in next 6 months; NEET-PG 2023 to be held earlier than previous year
• Doctors association seeks clarification on upcoming NeXT examination