No separate medical entrance for AIIMS, similar bodies

MBBS admissions to all the AIIMS and other institutes of national importance will continue to be through NEET with the proposal for a separate entrance test for such institutes being rejected at the recently held governing body meeting of the AIIMS.

The governing body of AIIMS headed by Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya took the decision on December 6. It rejected the proposal of a separate entrance examination at the undergraduate level, as distinct from NEET, for all the AIIMS and institutes of National Importance after deliberation. "After deliberations, it was felt that the current practice of a combined entrance examination for all medical colleges be continued," the minutes of the meeting read.

The All India Institute of Medical Sciences was established as an Institution of National Importance (INI) by an Act of Parliament in 1956. Beginning with the establishment of AIIMS, the objective of Institutes of National Importance (INI) in the field of medicine is to develop patterns of teaching in undergraduate and postgraduate medical education in all its branches to demonstrate a high standard of medical education to all medical colleges and other allied institutions in India (AIIMS Act 1956). Subsequently, more institutions -- PGIMER- Chandigarh, JIPMER, Puducherry (2008) and 21 newly established AIIMS for undergraduate and postgraduate education -- were added.

The INIs have the mandate to continuously innovate, establish and standardise newer methods of education at all levels ie undergraduate, postgraduate and super specialty, so that these can then be implemented in all the medical colleges under Central, State, Deemed and State Private Universities, an official said. Accordingly, section 37 of the National Medical Commission Act, 2019 specifically provides a distinct recognition of the medical degree of the INI (Schedule under 37) in relation to all other medical colleges in India under its purview. In order to recruit the highest calibre students for its medical undergraduate degree (MBBS), AIIMS New Delhi used to conduct an All-India entrance exam for admission of students to the MBBS program of all AIIMS. "This exam was conducted till 2019. With the promulgation of the NMC Act in 2019, admissions to the MBBS seats at all AIIMS were merged with the NEET- UG exam conducted by the National Testing Agency and the AIIMS MBBS entrance exam was stopped. As a consequence, since 2020, admissions to MBBS seats at all AIIMS are being done through the NEET-UG exam," an official explained.