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IMA leaders, medicos take to streets opposing NEXT
The members of Indian Medical Association (IMA) Warangal chapter and its students’ wing took to the streets expressing strong opposition to National Exit Test (NEXT).
Warangal: The members of Indian Medical Association (IMA) Warangal chapter and its students’ wing took to the streets expressing strong opposition to National Exit Test (NEXT).
NEXT is a mandatory licentiate examination the Central government planned to conduct for all MBBS students, who need to pass to practise medicine, besides their final year exam. Union health ministry has unveiled the draft Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Bill 2016 in this connection aiming to benchmark the students.
The IMA office bearers at national level and in all the states in the country have been opposing the bill and the NEXT. As part of which they called for a nation-wide protest and boycotting of classes on Wednesday.
Responding to the call, nearly 200 medicos and the leaders of the IMA have taken out a protest rally wearing black badges and displaying placards from Kakatiya Medical Collage to Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Hospital (MGMH) in Warangal. They staged a dharna in front of the hospital.
The protest was led by IMA Warangal branch president Anand Bhokrey and secretary P Manmohan Raju. IMA national vice-president Kasturi Prameela, state leaders P Vijaychander Reddy, B Mohan Rao, Y Sreedhar Raju and Prabhakar have taken part in the agitation.
Speaking to press persons, they complained that the Centre’s move would belittle the scope of the MBBS examination. ‘Making the students to appear for NEXT besides their final-year MBBS exam would mean the degree is invalid’.
Medical Council of India is the only body that decides what students should study and how to certify them, not the government. There is already a shortage of four lakh doctors. Now the Centre’s move could demoralise students interested in studying medicine.
“We can’t agree to the government’s proposed exit examination. Such examination leads to unnecessary burden on students. It would be unfair to make students appear for their final MBBS exam as well as an exit exam,” the leaders lamented.
By its insistence on licentiate exam, the government would be sending a signal that it does not have faith in universities it has approved. Medical colleges affiliated to various universities conduct final exams based on uniform syllabus prescribed by MCI across the nation, they pointed out.
