The National Medical Commission - More of the same

The Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister has accepted six amendments to the National Medical Commission Bill suggested by the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee (1). These amendments are: the proposed National Licentiate Examination has been replaced by a countrywide final MBBS examination called the National Exit Test (NEXT); the bridge course to train practitioners from AYUSH (Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy) in modern medicine has been removed, and it has been left to individual states to take a decision about this; the percentage of seats in private medical training institutions under fee regulation has been increased from 40% to 50%; the number of nominees from the states and Union territories who are members of the Commission has been increased from three to six; the penalties for non-compliance with educational norms for colleges has been modified; and the punishment for practising modern medicine without qualification has been made imprisonment up to one year and a fine of Rs 5 lakh.