The Medical Council of India (MCI) has declared that qualifying NEET  is compulsory for aspirants seeking admissions for pursuing MBBS abroad, since the year 2018. MCI India is the government authority regulating the norms and rules related to medical studies in India. The need for this screening test is to ensure the quality of doctors being produced.

Presently, National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) is a unified exam for getting admission to MBBS and BDS courses at all the Government and Private medical institutions across India. 

For those students who have already admitted to medical courses before 2018 are not required to appear for NEET, but the fresh students applying in the year 2020 are required to appear in NEET 2020 to be able to receive eligibility certificate from MCI India to apply for foreign university.  

The need to implement NEET requirement arises as several educational consultants and agencies are offering admissions to MBBS programs in foreign universities with minimal academic requirements. This leads to a threat of sending low-level talents to several foreign medical institutions for pursuing MBBS. Now students need to wait for NEET 2020 Result for admission abroad.

All the student who returns to practice as a doctor in India needs to clear the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE) conducted by MCI for registering as medical practitioners. However, their performance is miserable in the past few years.

Mostly foreign universities offer direct admission to medical courses following the prior academic records of candidates. Many universities in China and Russia do not focus on determining a candidate's suitability for pursuing medical studies which are quite risky as these candidates are to become medical practitioners in future.

Official records suggest that at least 7000 students from India join different medical colleges in Russia and China annually for MBBS courses. However, only around 10-15% of them manage to clear the FMGE examination. This led to the formation of certain standardize eligibility criteria for getting into foreign universities so that the quality of the medical practitioner is not compromised. 

To make the screening process fair and uniform for all medical aspirants, MCI devised new criteria as per which the basic eligibility requirement for Indian students is to be amongst the top 50 percentile of appearing candidates of NEET.

 Check NEET 2020 Cutoff

Amendment of Revised Rule for  MBBS Admissions Abroad

MCI India stated in an official notification dated February 09, 2018, that NEET  will be compulsory for students as eligibility criteria to get admitted into the universities abroad. After securing a stipulated rank the Students will be issued the Eligibility Certificate that is to be produced at the foreign universities.

This decision is aimed to resolve the problem of sending low-grade students to pursue MBBS degree abroad, which is the case currently. Aspirants would be issued the Eligibility Certificate for foreign medical education only if they are amongst the top 50 percentile in NEET.

Check NEET 2020 Counselling Process

Particulars required for admission to foreign universities

MCI has declared for some documents that will be required by the students before applying to the foreign universities. These documents will serve as the eligibility certificate.

• The student will be required to obtain an eligibility certificate issued by MCI that will be considered by admitting university.
• The students need to confirm the status of medical qualification and awarding university with the Indian embassy or Medical council of India.
• The students can check for the list of a trusted and reputed foreign institution on the official website of MCI.
• The students will have to approach the university directly for course-related information like the session, admission process and course fee.

Apart from introducing this criterion, MCI is also aimed to improve the quality of doctors who complete their MBBS from foreign countries like China. The Ministry of Health, India has reached the Ministry of Education, China to verify, prepare and agree upon a list of 45 good colleges in China where Indian students should get admission to the MBBS course. Students can check the list of verified colleges on the official website of MCI.