42 Seats available for FMGs willing to enroll for Internship, clarifies Delhi Medical Council

New Delhi: Amidst the demands from medical graduates from abroad seeking clarification regarding the number of seats available for internships, the Delhi Medical Council has now issued a public notice and informed that a total number of 42 seats are available only in certain hospitals.

Providing details about the number of seats available at the medical colleges, DMC in its notice dated April 27, 2023 has informed that there are 18 FMG Internship seats available at Lady Hardinge Medical College (LHMC), and another 13 seats available at Vardhaman Mahavir Medical College (VMMC).

In the case of Hamdard Institute of Medical Sciences (HIMS) and Baba Shaheb Ambedkar Medical College (BSA), there are 4 and 7 Internship seats available respectively.

According to the rules of the National Medical Commission (NMC), it is mandatory for medical graduates from abroad to undergo internship in India and only after the completion of the internship such foreign medical graduates (FMG) become eligible to register and practice in India.

Referring to this, DMC mentioned in the recent notice, "In terms of CRMI Regulations, 2021, as notified by the National Medical Commission, the Foreign Medical Graduates are required to undergo their Compulsory Rotating Medical internship at State's medical colleges/institutes."

In this regard, the list of seats, as provided by the medical colleges situated in the NCT of Delhi for the eligible candidates, are as under:-

However, the Council has further informed about the medical colleges and institutes where there is no availability of seats for Foreign Medical Graduates to undergo CRMI. 

Also Read: Limited Internship Seats, Thousands of FMGE graduates facing Uncertain Future

According to DMC notice, the colleges, where FMGs can not enroll for Internship due to administrative reasons, include- All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Maulana Azad Medical College, Army College of Medical Sciences, Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Medical Sciences, North NMC Medical College, and University College of Medical Sciences.

With this information, the Council further provided the details of the candidates who have been selected to undergo Internship at Compulsory Rotating Medical Internship at the 42 available seats.

The clarification from DMC has come when the students were seeking details regarding the number of available seats. Earlier on April 21, the Federation of Resident Doctors Association (FORDA) had written to DMC in this regard. FORDA had mentioned in the letter, "The National Medical Commission (NMC) website clearly states that 300 seats are available for FMGs across major medical institutions in Delhi. However, candidates have been left without a clear timeline for the commencement of their internships, which is concerning and unfair."

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that due to the scarcity of adequate Internship seats, around 2000 FMG doctors are facing an uncertain future as they will not be able to register/ practice in India without completing the mandatory internship rule of the National Medical Commission (NMC).

In the case of Rajasthan alone, only around 30 percent of the total students, who cleared the mandatory FMGE test in January have secured a seat for Internship. Earlier, Rajasthan Medical Council only held counselling for filling only 399 seats while the state almost has approximately 2,000 FMG internship seats. 966 of the 1,365 exam-qualified candidates are still waiting for an internship seat. In Haryana, around 40 students are yet to get an internship seat, sources informed Medical Dialogues.

While the admission process in Maharashtra is ongoing, there is still no clarity regarding the number of available seats for FMGE graduates. Meanwhile, even after three months of the FMGE results, many states across the country have not yet commenced the counselling process.

Referring to the issue faced by FMGs regarding the limited number of Internship seats, the President Elect of Delhi Medical Association mentioned in a recent Tweet, "Practical solution to FMG internship issue - Allow internship in DNB institutes as in past, No point in two years internship, Make stipend negotiable."

Also Read: FMG Internship in Rajasthan: Students begin Indefinite Sit-in Protest demanding allotment