Medical Colleges Across the Nation soon to have Common Entrance Test

For all the medical colleges around the country there will soon be one common entrance test, as the present Modi Government is willing to push the idea further. Earlier the same effort had been made by the previous government in 2013, which ultimately failed to conceptualize.

The Ministry of Health and the Medical Council of India have jointly proposed this idea to the general body meeting of the Medical Council of India (MCI) which was held on 1 October 2015. The proposal demanded a “Common Entrance Test” which could be held by any competent authority in order to take admissions to the MBBS and other post-graduate medical courses around the nation.

According to sources in MCI it was disclosed that the proposal was unanimously adopted by the GBM and now the ministry would require pushing it further for the implementation. The Medical Council of India is also in favor of amending the archaic Medical Council of India Act, 1956 in order to ensure that proper implementation is done through the proposed new system.

The Secretary in Charge of MCI, Dr. Reena Nayar said about GBM, “The matter was placed before the general body though nothing can be said till the minutes are finalized.” According to some sources the Health Minister JP Nadda himself is keen to implement this idea and is ready to take adequate measures so that it doesn’t fail as it did in 2013. Many of the MCI officials along with members of the government felt that the common entrance test for Medical colleges around the nation would actually benefit the students and help get rid of the corruption which is prevalent in the admission scenario from the very beginning in India.

The very first of the trials to start common medical entrance test was initiated in 2009 when the MCI was headed by the able administration of Dr. Ketan Desai as President. Earlier in 2003, the Supreme Court of India has barred MCI to hold single common entrance test saying it was against the constitution as MCI is not entitled to prescribe all India medical entrance tests.