Common Medical Entrance Exam- Health Ministry Yet to Take Decision

After getting the consent from Medical Council of India (MCI), Health Ministry will finally decide to organise the common entrance test for MBBS, BDS and other post-graduate medical courses from next year. If the Ministry passes the proposal, the common test might be conducted from the coming year, 2016.

"MCI, in its general body meeting on October 1, has backed the proposal. As per the existing policy, every state government conduct their own entrance test. Private medical college associations and deemed universities also conduct their own CET. And an aspiring candidate appears in all the exams. But here under the proposal, there will be a common entrance test for all medical aspirants from across the country and would be of great help to the students," said a senior Health Ministry official to media.

Recently, the MCI has also amended Medical Council of India 1956 Act so that they could also take a decision on the common entrance test. The step to conduct a common entrance test for medical students in the country was put forward by Dr Ketan Mehta, head of MCI in 2009.
In June 2013, the SC declined MCI's proposal for conducting common entrance test for MBBS, BDS and post-graduate medical courses and called it ‘invalid’. With 2:1 verdict by three-judge bench termed the notification as ultra vires of the Constitution.