AYUSH Colleges In MP Oppose Mandatory NExT Exam, Question Why Ayurveda Graduates Face Additional Licensing Test Unlike MBBS Students

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The AYUSH candidates have to take two tests, NEET UG and NExT (National Exit Test), while MBBS students take only the NEET UG entrance test. AYUSH colleges have written to the National Commission for Indian System of Medicine (NCISM) against this stepmotherly treatment of AYUSH graduates.

AYUSH courses (BAMS, BHMS, BUMS, BSMS) use NEET UG as an entrance exam and NExT (National Exit Test) as a licensing test to standardise medical education, ensure clinical competence, and create a uniform national standard across traditional and modern healthcare systems.

National Commission for Indian System of Medicine (NCISM) made qualifying NEET UG a legal prerequisite for admission in undergraduate medical streams. Under the NCISM and National Commission for Homoeopathy (NCH) Acts, graduating from an AYUSH course is no longer enough to start the medical practise.

NExT is a mandatory exit/licensing examination that should be cleared after completing the one-year compulsory internship to register on state or national practitioner registers.

According to NCISM academic calendar, the internship for 2021-22 batch starts on October 1, 2026, and ends on September 30, 2027. The commission proposes to conduct NExT in March 2027.

The commission stipulates that a minimum of 272 days of internship should be completed to be eligible to apply for NExT. Even if the internship were to begin on October 1, 2026, the 272-day requirement will be met by June 30, 2027. In such a scenario, AYUSH graduates appear in NExT to be held in March 2027?

Dr Rakesh Pandey, national spokesman of AYUSH Medical Association, said, Admission to the BAMS programme is based on NEET.

Following this, the BAMS degree curriculum includes two internal term examinations, three main university examinations, and a one-year internship, upon completion of which a student earns the degree.

In that case, why is there a need for NExT? If it is not being implemented in MBBS medical colleges, then why is it being applied to AYUSH stream?