Delhi Medical Council urges NMC to Allow FMGs to intern in non-teaching hospitals

Delhi: The Delhi Medical Council (DMC) has reached out to the National Medical Commission (NMC) urging for a relaxation of norms allowing Foreign Medical Graduates (FMGs) to undergo internship training in non-teaching institutes in tune with the rules implemented last year. 

In a letter addressed to Dr Aruna V Vanikar, President of NMC, DMC Secretary Girish Tyagi pointed out that after the declaration of the Foreign Medical Graduate Exam (FMGE) results by the National Board of Examinations in February 2024, 230 individuals, possessing both Delhi passports and Aadhar cards, have applied to commence their internships across various medical colleges and institutions in Delhi. 

More than 1000 students are desirous of starting an internship in Delhi but they called the applications only from Delhi domicile individuals, reports Times of India.

“As per information received from various medical colleges/institutions in Delhi, there are only 60 seats available in the current scenario for allotment for internship training. By seeing the number of seats and number of applications received we will not be able to provide internship even to FMGE belonging to Delhi,” the letter stated, as quoted by TOI.

In light of this predicament, the DMC Secretary appealed to the NMC to reconsider and permit FMGs to undergo internship training in non-teaching institutes, as was previously approved last year. 

Last year, offering one-time relaxation to the Foreign Medical Graduates (FMG) who were facing difficulties to join the mandatory internship programme in India due to the limited number of seats in the medical colleges, the National Medical Commission (NMC) allowed them to get enrolled at the non-teaching hospitals. The NMC validated the list of 679 Recognized Non-Teaching Hospitals for Compulsory Rotating Medical Internship issued by the erstwhile Medical Council of India (MCI) for a period of one year up to May 2024, for the conduct of Internships of medical graduates from abroad only.

A few days ago, the Supreme Court passed a judgment stating that the FMGs cannot be treated differently and should be paid stipends during their internship like their counterparts who have done MBBS from Indian medical colleges. This came after the apex court noted that foreign medical graduates in certain medical colleges are not being paid stipends during their internships.