Students planning to pursue medical education abroad will now have to qualify the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET).
The Union ministry of health and family welfare has approved a proposal by the MCI to amend the Screening Test Regulations, 2002, and make it mandatory for Indian students to qualify NEET, if they wish to pursue medical education abroad.
According to an official statement by the ministry, "It has come to notice that medical institutions/universities of foreign countries admit Indian students without proper assessment or screening of the students’ academic ability to cope up with medical education."
This results in many students—close to 80 per cent—failing to qualify the Foreign Medical Graduates Exam, a screening test that they need to clear upon their return, before they are eligible for practicing medicine in India.
The results of NEET shall be treated as an 'eligibility certificate' for such students, according to the ministry.
