<P> In Afghanistan, medical education begins after high school . No pre-medicine courses or bachelor's degree is required . Eligibility is determined through the rank applicants obtain in the public university entrance exam held every year throughout the country . Entry to medical school is competitive, and only students with the highest ranks are accepted into medical programs . The primary medical degree is completed in 7 years . According to the new medical curriculum (from 2016), during the 12th semester, medical students must complete research on a medical topic and provide a thesis as part of their training . Medical graduates are awarded a certificate in general medicine, regarded "MD" and validated by the "Ministry of Higher Education of Afghanistan". All physicians are to obtain licensing and a medical council registration number from the "Ministry of Public Health" before they officially begin to practice . They may subsequently specialize in a specific medical field at medical schools offering the necessary qualifications . After graduation, students may complete residency . </P> <P> In Argentina, the First Degree of Physician or Physician Diplomate (Spanish: Título de Médico) is equivalent to the North American MD Degree with six years of intensive studies followed by usually three or four years of residency as a major specialty in a particular empiric field, consisting of internships, social services and sporadic research . Only by holding a Medical Title can the postgraduate student apply for the Doctor degree through a Doctorate in Medicine program approved by the National Commission for University Evaluation and Accreditation . </P> <P> Historically, Australian medical schools have followed the British tradition by conferring the degrees of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) to its graduates whilst reserving the title of Doctor of Medicine (MD) for their research training degree, analogous to the PhD, or for their honorary doctorates . Although the majority of Australian MBBS degrees have been graduate programs since the 1990s, under the previous Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) they remained categorized as Level 7 Bachelor's degrees together with other undergraduate programs . </P> <P> The latest version of the AQF includes the new category of Level 9 Master's (Extended) degrees which permits the use of the term' Doctor' in the styling of the degree title of relevant professional programs . As a result, various Australian medical schools have replaced their MBBS degrees with the MD to resolve the previous anomalous nomenclature . With the introduction of the Master's level MD, universities have also renamed their previous medical research doctorates . The University of Melbourne was the first to introduce the MD in 2011 as a basic medical degree, and has renamed its research degree to Doctor of Medical Science (DMedSc). </P>

What is the meaning of mbbs and md