MBBS admissions to all the AIIMS and other medical institutions of national significance will continue to be via NEET, with the proposition for a separate entrance test for these institutions being denied at the recently held governing body meeting of the AIIMS.

The governing body of AIIMS, directed by Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, decided on December 6.

The governing body refused the proposal of a separate entrance examination at the UG level as distinct from NEET for all the AIIMS and institutions of National Importance after consideration.

The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) was established as an (INI) Institution of National Importance by an Act of Parliament in 1956.

The objective of INIs in medicine is to create teaching patterns in UG and PG medical education in all its branches to display a high standard of medical education to all medical institutions and other allied institutions in India (AIIMS Act 1956).

Later, more institutes- PGIMER Chandigarh, JIPMER, Puducherry (2008), and 21 recently established AIIMS for UG and PG education- were added to the list.

An official said that the INIs have the directive to constantly innovate, establish and formalize newer education methods at all levels- UG, UG, and super specialty so that these can be enforced in all the medical institutes under Central, State, Deemed, and State Private Universities.

Accordingly, section 37 of the National Medical Commission Act 2019 provides special recognition of the medical degree of the INI (Schedule under 37) in relation to all other medical institutes in India under its purview.

To recruit the highest calibre students for its medical UG degree (MBBS), AIIMS New Delhi used to conduct an All-India entrance test for admission of students to the MBBS programme of all AIIMS.

An official explained that this exam was conducted till the year 2019. With the dissemination of the NMC Act in 2019: admissions to the MBBS seats at all AIIMS were combined with the NEET- UG exam conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA), and the AIIMS MBBS entrance exam was discontinued. Since 2020, admissions to MBBS seats at all AIIMS are being accomplished through the NEET-UG exam.

For all colleges in the nation, admissions are done for the three levels of medical education through entrance exams.

Admissions to PG (MD/MS) and super specialty (DM/MCh) are done via two separate exams each. For all INIs, these exams are called the INICET-PG (postgraduate) and INICET-SS(super-specialty) exams, led by AIIMS New Delhi.

The related exams for all other medical institutes are done via the NEET-PG (postgraduate) and NEET-SS (super-specialty) exams. However, for the MBBS seats, an individual exam for AIIMS and other INIs has been annulled, and a single exam- (NEET-UG is being conducted).

In dedication to the highest standards and maintain the nature of innovation, admission into postgraduate (INICET-PG) and super-specialty (INICET-SS) medical programmes are now done via a Combined Entrance Test (CFT) conducted by AIIMS, New Delhi.

A note submitted to the governing body stated that in this context, it is proposed that admission to UG programmes in the INIs must be done via a Combined Entrance Test (INICET-UG).

It was recommended that the MBBS entrance exam for AIIMS may be disconnected from the NEET-UG exam and reverted to the situation that lived till 2019. Similar to the pattern before 2020, admission to MBBS seats at all AIIMS may be accomplished via a separate entrance exam.

The official stated that this exam could include MBBS seats of all INIs and be named the INICET-UG entrance exam.

According to the note, the cause for the re-establishment of INICET-UG was that the three levels of medical education- UG, MBBS, UG, MD/MS, and Super specialty, SS are thoroughly and critically interconnected.

In order to provide a seamless transition, the entrance exam to all three levels should have similar standards and approaches as predicted by the Parliament.

Besides, the NEET-UG exam caters to above 80,000 MBBS seats and multiple stakeholders, including students and colleges. The mammoth organisation task needs extensive logistics and consequent delays.

Further, due to numerous stakeholders, including Central, State, Deemed, and Private Universities, the NEET examination and counseling procedure is often delayed due to litigations at various courts.

The note stated that a separate combined entrance exam for undergraduate seats in INIs would shield them from events that affect the conduct of NEET.