Waive Fees For NExT Mock Test: Health Ministry Asks NMC

The AIIMS Delhi is set to conduct the NExT Mock Test On July 28, 2023.

Health Ministry Asks NMC To Waive NExT Mock Test Fee (Representational Image)

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Contemplations have kicked off at the National Medical Council (NMC), following the Union Health Ministry calling upon the medical body to waive off NExT Exam Mock Test Fee. As per the official schedule, the NExT Exam will be conducted by the AIIMS Delhi on July 28, 2023, for final year MBBS students. A recent notification from AIIMS Delhi last week said that General and OBC category candidates will have to pay a fee of Rs 2,000, and SC, ST candidates will have to pay a fee of Rs 1,000, to appear in the NExT Exam. Persons with disabilities have been exempted from paying any fee for appearing in the exam. Notably, the AIIMS will also be conducting the NExT Mock Test, which is said to be an online computer-based examination with objective-type questions. 

The NExT Mock Test is aimed at familiarising students with the test, exam software interface, and the exam process flow at the examination centres. Earlier on Friday last week, the NMC released the NExT (National Exit Test) Regulations 2023. The regulations underlined that the NExT Exam will be held in two phases every year: NExT Step 1 and NExT Step 2. 

The NMC through a gazette notification also said that the NExT would also serve as a licentiate examination that would certify the eligibility of medical graduates to practice medicine in India. The NExT Exam shall also serve as a basis of determining the eligibility of candidates for further postgraduate medical education, and therefore serve as an entrance test for a bunch of postgraduate medical programs. 

Candidates who clear the NExT Step 1 Exam will be required to undergo an internship of four years, and their NExT Step 1 Scorecard shall be considered for admission into postgraduate courses. After the completion of internship, candidates will have to take the NExT Step 2 Exam to obtain the licence and ascertain eligibility to practice modern medicine in India. Foreign medical graduates who wish to practice medicine in India will also have to undergo the same process. 

(With inputs from PTI)