Will NExT Exam Be Held in 2024? Here's What We Know So Far

The Union Health Ministry has flagged a viral fake notification on the National Exit Test which claims that examination will be conducted in the second half of 2023. However, media reports claim that in 2024,  NExT will replace the National Eligibility Entrance Test- Postgraduate (NEET- PG). Reportedly, the National Exit Test (NExT) will be a single examination that will replace final year MBBS examination and will serve basis for seat allocation in post graduate.

As reported by The Hindu, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences will likely conduct entrance examination for both clinical and practical learnings of the applicants. A report by Indian Express claims that teachers associated with different departments are working to formulate multiple choice questions for the first edition of the entrance examination. The entrance examination will have questions from different fields including medicine, surgery, obstetrics and gynaecology, paediatrics, ENT, and ophthalmology.

Along with this, the Health Ministry has added 50 new medical colleges in the national list taking the undergraduate medical seats to one lakh. Further, 38 UG level medical colleges recognition is withheld, 102 medical colleges have received show cause notice claims a media report.

Giving full stop to the students worry, no student will suffer due to the regulatory process initiated by the health ministry. A senior health ministry official highlighted the reasons why medical colleges are facing flak from the regulators. These includes, staff shortage, shortage of doctors, patients not being available to students, staff not marking attendance on biometric system, colleges not being able to implement the new ‘camera, biometric, and health management system-based monitoring’ among others. The official further said “Unless colleges have serious deficiencies, they are likely to be recognised again for the current session.”

The numbers, the senior health official said, are variable and based on the appeals heard throughout the course of the following two months. The problem was made public after Stanley Medical College in Chennai, one of the oldest government medical schools in India, and a few others from Tamil Nadu lost their recognition. The decree was quickly overturned, and the institutions were once again granted five-year recognition.

Meanwhile, over 20 lakh prospective medical students who took the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for Undergraduate (NEET-UG) 2023 are preparing for their admissions process as the National Testing Agency (NTA) is expected to shortly release the much-anticipated NEET UG 2023 results. Applicants are advised to visit the official websites, nta.ac.in and neet.nta.nic.in to view their scorecards once the results are declared.