As India is facing an alarming rise in COVID-19 cases more than three lakh are being reported daily. Amid the crisis more than 70,000 Foreign Medical Graduates are looking forward to getting themselves enrolled in internships. The new draft of regulations for FMGs has been released by the National Medical Council (NMC) stating that no license will be allowed to obtain till they fulfill the eligibility criteria.
For many students in India pursuing a career in the field of medicine has been a dream. Aspirants have a sea of options with thousands of colleges offering medical education or MBBS in India and abroad. One of the common practices that have been witnessed in India is that students pursue the course in countries away from India and return to practice medicine their country of origin. They are known as Foreign Medical Graduates. Foreign medical graduate is basically a physician who has been graduated from a medical school outside of the country where he or she intends to practice.
The Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE) is a screening test conducted by the National Board of Examination for Indians who graduated from an MBBS programme in an international educational institution. FMGE has been designed to qualify and provide a valid license to medical graduates who wish to practice medicine anywhere in India legally. The screening testis a compulsory step that all foreign UG and PG medical graduates are required to clear in India. FMGE exam is conducted biannually in the month of June and December for Indian and Overseas Citizens of India (OCIs) to obtain the provisional or permanent registration certificate issued by the National Medical Commission (NMC) or State Medical Council (SMC).
According to the data from the National Board of Examination (NBE) that conducts the Foreign Medical Graduate Exam (FMGE) for students with MBBS (US, UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand are exempted), in the previous sessions not more than 15 percent students qualified Medical Council of India (MCI) examination.
The Service Doctors and Post-Graduates Association (SDPGA) has appealed to the State government to post foreign medical graduates, on duty in government and private medical college hospitals. Various politicians like Hema Malini, Yogi Adityanath, Nitin Gadkari, etc. also urged Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan to allow foreign medical graduates without going into formalities to treat COVID-19 patients.
“Graduates Association also sent a letter addressing President, Prime Minister and the Health Minister of the country in March, seeking licenses to work as doctors and aid in the fight against Covid-19”
Due to an unprecedented rise in Covid-19 cases and the acute shortage of trained medical professionals several foreign medical graduates had expressed willingness to work in Covid-19 wards. However, they are not permitted to work as doctors in India unless they pass the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination. Almost 20,000 foreign medical graduates approached the government to allow them to work as doctors without the mandatory bridge exam that they otherwise have to clear to practice in India. Various candidates who have done MBBS in foreign countries are awaiting for the government’s approval to undergo internship. Last December they cleared the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination but they have not received a call for internship so far.
The All India Foreign Medical Graduates Association also sent a letter addressing President, Prime Minister and the Health Minister of the country in March, seeking licenses to work as doctors and aid in the fight against Covid-19.In the letters, the FMGs has cited the shortage of doctors in the country as the primary reason to let them enter the workforce. According to the latest government figures, India has one doctor for every 1,457 citizens.
This is rather injustice for them. They say the ministry is not too keen or taking interest on allowing them to enter the workforce without clearing examination.
Although as per government there is a reason why FMGE is mandatory. Because more than 80 percent of these graduates are unable to pass the test, which means they are not fit to practice.
Some of the FMGs have also written to the government, failed the test by a margin while the others could not write the exam because it was postponed this year due to the pandemic. A group of MBBS doctors have approached the Supreme Court seeking the postponement of the NEET-PG exams scheduled on April 18 citing grave apprehensions of COVID-19 infection amid the second wave of the pandemic. The plea states that compelling doctors who are treating COVID-19 patients on a daily basis to attend a physical exam will be equivalent to putting the lives of thousands of people.
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