A single measure

Finally,all hurdles have been cleared towards a single entrance test for MBBS and postgraduate medical programmes. The common eligibility-cum-entrance test has been in the works for a while,the Centre had already cleared it last year. Now,after giving private and minority institutions as well as various implementing states their say,the tests ambit has been widened to include private medical colleges as well. That takes the total count of medical institutions to 271 138 government-administered ones,and 133 private colleges,which will have to abide by the same exacting norms to assess students.

The provisional governing body of the Medical Council of India that replaced the previous MCI deserves credit for the considerable reform it has galvanised. Previously,the corrupt and inept MCI executive had treated medical education as a profiteering opportunity,creating an artificial scarcity of educational institutions,constraining the supply of professionals and holding back opportunity. One of the immediate tasks at hand for the new MCI was to sort out the tangle of medical entrance examinations,between various states and private colleges.

So now,instead of facing a battery of differently administered tests,aspiring medical students can be evaluated by a single system.

So far,the average student took several different examinations in different states,sometimes 10 to 15. Apart from the logistical difficulty,it was a formidable financial strain,meaning that disadvantaged students simply didnt have the same opportunities to compete. Now,that problem has been eliminated. More importantly,this creates a single Indian standard to test various student populations not only does it provide more meaningful assessment for medical students from anywhere in the country vis-a-vis their peers,it also makes it easier for global vetting,in an environment where their skills are in high demand across the world. Most significantly at this point,it would eliminate wastage of seats and the role of discretion that plagues medical education,with seats being sold for exorbitant sums of money. It will make sure that only merit guarantees entrance to medical school,not powerful accreditation shops.