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Journalism of Courage
The National Medical Council (NMC) has recently announced a change in the passing marks for MBBS students. As per the revised guidelines of Competency Based Medical Education Regulation 2023 (CBME 2023), the pass percentage has been reduced to 40 per cent for MBBS subjects having two papers.
Now, candidates must secure a minimum of 50 per cent aggregate marks to pass the subjects having two papers. However, the qualifying marks to be declared pass have been reduced to 40 per cent.
The new NMC guidelines haven’t reduced the cumulative score, which is still 50 per cent to pass in the subject. But this 40 per cent criteria to pass in theory is good news to budding doctors who are good in the practical aspect. Becoming a doctor is more about how well you can apply the knowledge you gained from the books to treat patients.
And considering the health situation of India, our country needs to expand its health sector and produce doctors.
If one student scores 40 on the practical exam, he has to score compulsorily 60 to earn a pass in the subject. The theory exam papers are corrected by two different examiners, for example, one examiner would have given 61 and the other examiner has to give the student at least 59 so that the average comes to 60. Totalling will be done by different persons, and the average is considered for a pass. Moreover, there’s no revaluation for this batch. Considering all these things, the existing pattern was better and the new guidelines will put the students at a disadvantage.
This guideline will create confusion among MBBS students. The new and frequent changes in the MBBS curriculum will create a huge impact on students’ performance, and confidence and will surely affect the standards of the healthcare system of the country.
This system of pass mark eligibility reduction from 50 to 40 per cent will help students clear the MBBS exams but will instead decline the knowledge level. After students clear MBBS with these low pass percentage, they will find it difficult to face standard competitive postgraduate entrance exams such as NEET / NEXT , USMLE and others. This can then lead to students pumping more money into coaching centres.
The new guideline will help us secure passing marks (in theory and practical exams), and will also help us reduce the stress among MBBS students. This will increase the number of passing MBBS graduates every year, which will in turn help produce more doctors.
Having said that, there is already a lot of competition and it may increase now due to the new guidelines. As the number of doctors increases, the competition for the number of job vacancies will also increase, which can cause stress and anxiety to recent graduates.
I welcome this change in the passing marks as now students will get a chance to clear exams and they will be stress free. Having said that, I also worry that while we are reducing the pass percentage, students might lose concentration towards their studies and the quality of doctors may fall.
