The draft National Medical Commission bill 2022 aims to establish a fifth autonomous body under the nation's top medical education regulator to administer the National Exit Test, a two-part exam that will serve as a prerequisite for post-graduate admissions as well as an exam for granting doctors registration.
It will replace the National Board of Examinations, which presently administers entrance exams for all post-graduate and super-specialty degrees, and will be known as the "Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences."
The new board will administer the NExT exams in addition to accrediting organisations for diploma, diplomat, postgraduate fellowship, and super-specialty fellowship programmes. It will establish the minimal requirements and grant them in executing these courses.
After the Undergraduate Medical Education Education Board, the Postgraduate Medical Education Board, the Medical Assessment and Rating Board, which inspects and rates medical education institutions, and the Ethics and Medical Registration Board (regulates professional conduct of the doctors and registers them), this will be the fifth autonomous board under the NMC.