National Medical Commission Bill 2019 has been passed in Lok Sabha as per the latest update. The news regarding passage of NMC Bill 2019 was broken by news agency ANI. Following its passage in the Lok Sabha, National Medical Bill, will now, be presented in the Rajya Sabha i.e. upper house of the Parliament. Earlier in the day, doctors and medical aspirants took out a protest march against the NMC Bill 2019 from AIIMS to Nirman Bhawan. The protest was called in Indian Medical Association (IMA) in which over 5000 doctors participated.
Among the several provisions of the Bill, the most important one is that the bill seeks to establish National Medical Commission which will replace Medical Council of India (MCI), which is currently the regulator body for medical education in the country.
Union minister Harsh Vardhan in his address to Lok Sabha said that NMC Bill 2019 will replace the 63-year old MCI and will mark as a major step in the direction of reforms in the medical education sector in the country.
Another important provision of NMC Bill 2019 seeks to introduce NEXT or National Exit Test for MBBS students. NEXT will be a compulsory test for all students seeking admission to medical PG programmes offered in the country. All candidates will have to appear for NEXT which will be MBBS exit test, thereby eradicating the need for a separate entrance exam for PG Medical Admissions 2019.
Another important provision which was part of the NMC Bill 2019 Draft was related to a bridge course for Ayush practitioners to practice modern medicine to a limited extent. However, following concerns expressed by medical fraternity, the same has been removed from the Bill.
