Will NEET Norm Affect Enrolled Medical Aspirants in Philippines?
- Several parents are in confusion whether NEET norm is applicable to their children in the Philippines for the BS course.
- Many students are yet to complete BS course and clear NMAT.
As MCI made NEET qualification mandatory for taking up medical colleges abroad after May 2018, medical students who have enrolled in colleges/ universities in the Philippines are sighing a sense of relief.
The medical course in the Philippines is mostly different from that in former USSR countries and China. Initially, medical students are admitted to the pre-medical course or BS course in the Philippines, and the duration of the course is 16 – 18 months. The popular country follows a 14-year schooling pattern for gaining eligibility for medical course. However, in countries like China, India and Russia, 12 years of schooling is enough to join medical courses.
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After the successful completion of BS course, the students will have to qualify NMAT (National Medical Admission Test) conducted by the Philippines authorities for medical admission. Indian medical students in the Philippines, who were admitted during the academic sessions 2016-17 and 2017-18 in the BS course and are waiting to join medical course, will have to clear NEET to bag ‘No Objection Certificate’ or ‘Eligibility Certificate’ from the Medical Council of India (MCI).
However, students who join in the medical colleges in the Philippines by April 2018 can be considered safe, as they would anyways have followed the latest protocol. Recently, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare also clarified that the students who have taken admission to the medical course as per old regulations in foreign medical schools are exempted from NEET qualification.
However, the majority of the students who went to the Philippines to pursue the medical course in the past two years are yet to join the medical colleges. These students are yet to complete the BS course and clear NMAT. As of now, several parents are in confusion whether NEET norm is applicable to their children in the Philippines for the BS course.
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Earlier, a few officials and experts advised Indian students pursuing BS course in the Philippines to apply for NEET, come back to India and appear for the entrance test. As per the experts, it was the safest option rather than being nervous about the applicability of NEET.