Qualifying NEET now mandatory to pursue foreign medical course

New Delhi: While the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) has been made mandatory for admission to all medical courses in the country, the Indian students who are interested to pursue medical education abroad too will have to undergo this common national entrance examination.

Medical students will also have to qualify a screening test called Foreign Medical Graduates Exam (FMGE), for registration to practice in India after obtaining the primary medical qualification (MBBS) overseas.

As per the union health ministry, it had noticed that medical institutions and universities of foreign countries admit Indian students without proper assessment or screening of the students’ academic ability to cope up with medical education with the result that many students fail to qualify the screening test.

In this regard, the proposal of Medical Council of India (MCI) to amend the Screening Test Regulations, 2002, making it mandatory to qualify NEET to pursue foreign medical course has been approved by the ministry.

Thus, the Indian citizens and overseas citizens of India intending to obtain the primary medical qualification from any medical institution outside India, on or after May 2018, shall have to mandatorily qualify the NEET for admission to MBBS course abroad.

The result of NEET shall be deemed to be treated as the eligibility certificate for such persons, provided that such persons fulfill the eligibility criteria for admission to the MBBS course prescribed in the regulations on graduate medical education, 1997.