NMC contemplates removing upper age bar in NEET UG

National Medical Commission (NMC) recently hinted at the possibility of removing the upper age bar from the NEET UG entrance examination.

It seems that the National Medical Commission (NMC) is thinking over the possibility of removing the upper age bar from appearing in the entrance examination for the MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery) course that is National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test Undergraduate (NEET-UG). The age limit criteria had been questioned many times in the Supreme Court and High Courts of the country.

Recently, in the National Medical Journal of India's paper titled "Seeking graduation in medical colleges outside  India: Is it a 'win-win situation' or 'lose-lose situation' for the stakeholders and the nation?", NMC's members of the UG Medical Education Board have published their findings on medical education in India.

As per the paper, the age limit was put by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) in 2017 when the authority in charge of conducting NEET had mentioned a notification saying that "The upper age limit for NEET-UG is 25 years as on the date of examination with relaxation of five years for the candidates belonging to SC/ST/OBC category." CBSE had also set the number of attempts allowed in the examination to be three for all the candidates.

Reportedly, NMC is considering removing the upper age bar for MBBS admission by keeping in the mind the issues faced by the aspirants belonging to lower-income families and MBBS aspirants to foreign countries. NMC is considering that if the age bar is removed from NEET-UG, aspirants can appear in the medical entrance examination as many times as they wish to and even they can attempt the examination after getting admitted to other courses.

Read more:

• NMC declines permission to start MBBS admission in four new medical colleges in Karnataka
• NMC top officials propose 10-year cap to finish MBBS course