It is now mandatory for Indian students to qualify NEET to pursue foreign medical course

New Delhi, February 13, 2018: The Union Health Ministry has
approved the proposal of Medical Council of India (MCI) to amend the Screening
Test Regulations-2002, making it mandatory to qualify NEET to pursue foreign
medical course.

A common National Entrance Exam -National Eligibility-cum-Entrance
Test (NEET)-has been made 

mandatory for admission to all medical courses in the
country.

Indian students can also pursue medical education abroad and
have to qualify a Screening Test called Foreign Medical Graduates Exam (FMGE),
for registration to practice in India after obtaining primary medical
qualification (MBBS) overseas. It has come to notice that medical institutions
of foreign countries admit Indian students without proper assessment or screening
of the students’ academic ability to cope up with medical education with the
result that many students fail to qualify the Screening Test.

“Thus, the Indian citizens/overseas citizen of India
intending to obtain primary medical qualification from any medical institution
outside India, on or after May 2018, shall have to mandatorily qualify the NEET
for admission to MBBS course abroad. The result of NEET shall be deemed to be
treated as the Eligibility Certificate for such persons, provided that such
persons fulfils the eligibility criteria for admission to the MBBS course
prescribed in the Regulations on Graduate Medical Education, 1997,” said a
notification issued  by the Union Health Ministry.