National exit test for Ayush takes effect from 2021-22 batch: Prataprao Jadhav

Education news: Union Minister announces National Exit Test for Ayush effective 2021-2022, ensuring fair assessment and quality healthcare standards.

Union Minister of State for Ayush, Prataprao Jadhav on Thursday announced that the National Exit Test for Ayush will be effective from the 2021-2022 batch onwards. Mr. Jadhav further stated that the decision was taken on the recommendation of the committee set up in this regard to review the concerns of students in this matter.

The committee recommends that the NExT will be applied to students enrolled in the 2021-22 academic session under the NCISM and NCH Acts, 2020, removing any ambiguity in its implementation. The committee was presided over by Prof Sanjeev Sharma, who was responsible for reviewing the suggestions from students and submitting the recommendations to the Ministry.

The test is mandatory for licencing and enrolment in state or national registers after completing a one-year internship, and the structure is a problem-based examination featuring clinical case scenarios, images, and videos to evaluate practical skills.

Those interns who have not completed their internship but qualified in the National Exit Test (Next) shall be eligible to register in the state or national registration board only after completion of a one-year internship. This announcement has been made after various representations came from students of the Ayush stream regarding the implementation of NeXT and a meeting with the Minister of State (IC) for Ayush was held with some representatives of the students of BAMS/BHMS regarding the discussion on the issue of NeXT exam of NCISM & NCH.

The National Commission for Indian System of Medicine (NCISM) Act 2020 and the National Commission for Homoeopathy (NCH) Act, 2020 came into force with effect from June 11, 2021 and July 5, 2021, respectively. The National Exit Test (NeXT) is required to be conducted by the Commissions under the provisions of the National Commission for Indian System of Medicine (NCISM) Act 2020 and the National Commission for Homoeopathy (NCH) Act, 2020 within three years from the date of enforcement of these Acts.

NExT is designed to assess clinical competency, medical ethics understanding, and ability to handle medico-legal cases for graduates in Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani, and Sowa-Rigpa.

A campaign is to be led by the Ministry of Ayush and the National Commission for Indian System of Medicine (NCISM). This initiative aims to promote health through natural practices. This campaign will engage over 4.5 lakh participants, including 1,35,000 students, 20,000 postgraduate students, 18,000 teachers, and 3 lakh practitioners.