MBBS students will be required to maintain at least 75% attendance in the electives to appear for exam
The National Medical Commission (NMC) has recently released a new guideline for maintaining Competency-Based Medical Education (CBME) in MBBS. The Under Graduate Medical Education Board (UGMEB) under NMC has released new guidelines for the MBBS course. Moreover, the new curriculum will begin the first session of the National Exist Test (NExT) exam from the academic year 2024-25.
The NExT exam will be implemented in two steps starting from the 54th week of the MBBS course and the second step of NExT will take place during the 12th month of the Compulsory Rotating Medical Internship (CRMI). MBBS students will be required to maintain at least 75% attendance in the electives and submission of log book maintained during electives are required for eligibility to appear in the University MBBS examination/ NExT.
University Examinations shall be held as under:
- Phase-I shall be held at the end of Phase I training (in the 12th month of that training), in the subjects of Anatomy, Physiology and Biochemistry.
- Phase-II examination shall be held at the end of Phase II training (12th month of that training), in the subjects of Pathology, Microbiology, and Pharmacology
- Phase III Part 1examination shall be held at the end of Phase III Part 1 of training (12th month of that training) in the subjects of Community Medicine, Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Ophthalmology and Otorhinolaryngology.
- Phase III Part 2 / National Exit Test (NExT) as per NExT regulations- (Final The professional) examination shall be at the end of the 17th / 18th month of that training, in the subjects of General Medicine, General Surgery, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pediatrics, and allied subjects as per NExT Regulations.
Meanwhile, the guidelines have made significant changes to the existing Graduate Medical Education Regulations (GMER), which were introduced in 1997 and revised in 2023. The new guidelines include the incorporation of feedback from five years of CBME implementation, in 2019.
The new curriculum makes UG medical education more learner-centric, patient-centric, gender-sensitive, outcome-oriented and environment-appropriate. The result is an outcome-driven curriculum which conforms to global trends. Emphasis is made on the alignment and integration of subjects both horizontally and vertically while respecting the strengths and necessity of subject-based instruction and assessment.
This has necessitated a deviation from using ‘broad competencies’; instead, the reports have written end-of-phase subject competencies. These competencies can be mapped to the global competencies in the GMER.
