NLE Could Serve as NEET for Admission in Medical Postgraduate Programmes

Soon NEET (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test) will not be considered as a qualifying examination for MBBS graduates to practice medicine or to study at post graduate level. MBBS students will have to clear another examination called National Licentiate Examination (NLE).

Government officials in the National Medical Commission Bill, have proposed NLE to evaluate MBBS graduates on the lines of skill tests conducted to hire teachers. The draft bill prepared by NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayogenvisagestorevamp the medical education system in the country by introducing new exams for students, along with focusing on devising uniform academic and examination standards for more than 450 medical colleges in India.

A senior NITI Aayog functionary called the quality of medical college education as an “area of concern”.  He added that colleges will be forced to provide quality education, as students would not be able to practice or pursue postgraduate programmes, without clearing the NLE.

The bill has also proposed setting up of separate undergraduate and postgraduate boards for medical education to oversee all its aspects. This would include setting up standards for conducting courses and examinations with slight or no room for modification at institution level, preparing a dynamic curriculum catering to the needs of the society and regular assessment of students and norms to set up medical institutions.

Moreover, the bill also proposes to regularly rate medical colleges on the basis of their performance and infrastructure. Doctors and medical students will be registered nationally using Aadhar card and new medical institutes will be set up after the approval of the concerned accreditation body.

The decision to form a new law was made after a report from a Parliamentary Committee described MCI as an ‘opaque and ossified body’, which was unablein carrying out its enormous work of regulating medical education in the country.