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Karnataka will have little role in seat sharing, counselling and fixing fees for postgraduate medical courses from the coming academic year, as the Union government has proposed to introduce National Exit Test (NExT) to be conducted by the National Board of Examination.
These proposals are part of the Draft National Medical Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2022, published recently. With the Bill likely to be passed soon, the first NExT will be held this December, for which all final year MBBS students will be eligible, sources in Directorate of Medical Education, Karnataka, said.
“Once NExT is instituted, in all probability from December, the State’s involvement in PG medical seat sharing with colleges, counselling and fee fixation will be very minimal. Presently, PG medical seat counselling is being carried out by the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA), but with NExT it will be held virtually by the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences. With no provision for physical interaction, the entire process will be online and centralised. NExT will give more uniformity in medical courses entrance tests and avoid the long counselling schedule, cancellation of seats and other problems,” explained B.L. Sujatha Rathod, Director, Directorate of Medical Education, Karnataka.
Presently, the ratio of seat sharing between the government and private medical colleges and deemed-to-be-universities is 40:60. However, the National Medical Commission has issued an order stating this ratio will be 50:50 and the fees for these seats should be on par with that of government medical colleges, for admissions done through NExT. This essentially will provide more PG medical seats under the government quota, sources in the directorate said.
While some private medical colleges have challenged this order of the NMC in court, no college has done so in the State.
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