Indian Medical Students From China, Ukraine May Sit For FMGE – NMC

India’s apex medical education regulator has proposed that final year medical students from China and Ukraine who were not able to complete their practical training due to the pandemic or the war be allowed to sit for the Foreign Medical Graduate Exam (FMGE) – a screening test which foreign medical students have to clear to practice in the country.

The students who pass the examination will then have to complete a two-year internship to be eligible for permanent registration to practice medicine in the country.

According to the proposal of the National Medical Commission (NMC), this will be a one-time relaxation granted due to unforeseen circumstances.

Currently, foreign medical graduates have to complete their training and a one-year internship at the university they are enrolled in order to appear for the FMGE exams in India.

They then have to undergo a one-year long internship in India as well in order to get permanent registration.

A senior official said the relaxation will be applicable only for a year, so students should refrain from taking admission to courses in these countries this year even though China is now allowing very few students to return.

He said some of the students from China were given an internship completion certificate online and wondered how that can be accepted.

He added that the two-year internship will help in plugging the gaps in clinical training.

The proposal was submitted by the undergraduate medical board of the National Medical Commission (NMC) on orders of the Supreme Court.

The proposal states that the first and second year medical students, who joined their college after November 2021, can appear again for NEET to seek admission in Indian colleges.

These students, unlike the third and fourth year students, cannot take a transfer to universities in other European countries.

The new guidelines for foreign medical graduates that came into force November 2021 states that the students have to complete their entire training and internship from the same university.

Although the proposal does not explicitly mention it, the third and fourth year medical students will be allowed to take admission in colleges in other European countries such as Russia, Kazakhstan, or Kyrgystan which offer courses that comply with Indian norms.

Around 18,000 medical students returned from Ukraine after the war started in February.

There are almost 65,000 students in India – mainly from China and Ukraine, but also from the Philippines – whose education was halted because of the new norms.