FMG Internship: NC asks JnK Administration to address concerns of students

Srinagar: Raising the problems faced by Foreign Medical Graduates to get themselves enrolled for the mandatory Internship programme, the National Conference (NC) on Wednesday asked the Jammu and Kashmir Administration to address the demands and concerns of such students. 

This comes at a time when MBBS graduates from abroad are protesting for the last few days for inadequate Internship seats. Medical dialogues had earlier reported that FMG graduates in Jammu and Kashmir are protesting since only 230 Internship seats are available for enrollment whereas there are around 400 doctors who have cleared the mandatory FMG examination.

Echoing their concern, the State Spokesperson of the National Conference, Imran Nabi Dar said, “As per the guidelines by NMC (National Medical Commission), students who have completed their MBBS degree from foreign medical universities are required to appear for the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE) which allows them to practice medicine in India. Students who qualify for the examination are then required to undergo a mandatory medical internship. Forty thousand such FMGs had appeared in the test out of which only three thousand had cleared it."

"However the total number of FMGs that qualified the mandatory screening test in J&K is 400, out of which only 230 have been inducted for the mandatory internship. While the fate of remaining 170 aspirants who had also qualified the test has been put into a lurch. Most of these FMGs had also applied for internships in other states but they were denied the same on domicile issues,” he further added.

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

As per the latest media report by Greater Kashmir, Imran also mentioned how the Intern doctors played an important part during the fight against COVID-19 in the UT. Pointing out that the Intern doctors could help providing medical services and deal with the shortage of doctors, he further mentioned, "Their work hours go beyond that of permanent faculty. They form an important part of the workforce in understaffed medical colleges and hospitals in rural areas and the distribution of doctors in J&K is already lopsided. The services of such Interns can be used to fulfil the shortage of staff in primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare centers across J&K. Therefore, the government should increase the intake capacity of CRMI seats and refrain from any sort of discrimination.”

“I hope the concerned authorities will take cognizance of their plight and mitigate their sufferings on priority basis,” he added.

The problem regarding inadequate number of Internship seats is not only faced by the FMGs in Jammu and Kashmir. Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that due to the scarcity of adequate Internship seats, around 2000 such 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. Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that 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.

Also Read: Rajasthan Medical Council holds counselling for 399 Out of 2000 CRMI seats, around 1000 FMGs left in lurch