Indian medical colleges to get single entrance exam
BMJ 2016; 352 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.i856 (Published 29 February 2016) Cite this as: BMJ 2016;352:i856
India’s health ministry has taken the next step towards the introduction of a single common entrance examination for graduate and postgraduate medical degrees in all colleges in India.1 2
JP Nadda, the union health minister, approved the proposal made by the Medical Council of India for an amendment to the Indian Medical Council Act 1956. When passed, the amendment will let the council conduct a national common medical entrance test that will apply to all private colleges and state universities.
The health ministry has not, however, approved the council’s bid to hold exit exams for all graduating medical students, including those at private colleges, so that they can ensure the quality of doctors across the country. The exit exams would also let new doctors practise anywhere in the country, without having to transfer their registration.
A draft cabinet note has been prepared by the health ministry that will be sent for consultation to the departments of human resource development, and law, among others. It has not been decided if the common entrance exam will be an existing examination like the All India Pre Medical Test, or a new one, or which examination board will conduct it.
The introduction of a common entrance test in India has posed several problems in the past. In 2009 the Medical Council of India set up an expert committee to look at the issue.
The committee recommended that there should be a single national eligibility entrance test and that the Indian Medical Council Act 1956 should be amended to give the council the authority to implement the exam. The council conducted the first examinations in 2013 of over 600 000 candidates. But the Supreme Court later declared the exam to be “unconstitutional” because only a change in regulation—and not to the act—would give the council the required authority to conduct the exam.3 Because of this, in October 2015 the council again proposed amending the act4 to give it the required jurisdiction and authority to regulate the common entrance examination.
The Medical Council of India’s president, Jayshree Mehta, told The BMJ that once the amendment had been passed the council would implement procedures for a single entrance exam that she hoped would be in place for 2017-18 candidates.