Limited Seats for FMG Internship: FORDA raises matter to NMC, assures solution in one week

New Delhi: The issue regarding a limited number of internship seats for Foreign Medical Graduates (FMG) was recently raised by the Federation of Resident Doctors Association (FORDA) in its recent meeting with the National Medical Commission (NMC).

After the meeting on May 4, FORDA has assured that a solution would soon be provided by the Apex medical commission, most likely within one week.

Sharing the information in this regard, the association mentioned in a recent Tweet, "#FMG UPDATE- Productive meeting between FORDA delegation led by @draviralmathur & @DrPandeyRML and Higher NMC officials regarding #FMG internship issue. A holistic solution is expected next week, addressing all major concerns."

Speaking to Medical Dialogues in this regard, the General Secretary of FORDA, Dr. Sarvesh Pandey mentioned, "We raised the issue to NMC officials and they agreed to all our suggestions. They have assured us that the solution will come within one week."

"These medical graduates from abroad are facing trouble getting enrolled into internships. Their demands are completely valid," he added.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that around 2,000 FMG doctors are facing the issue. In 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.

Students are not certain about the number of available seats in several States and even after three months of the FMGE results, many states across the country have not yet commenced the counselling process.

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

Recently, the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA) also raised the problems faced by the FMGs across the country and especially in Delhi. FAIMA wrote to the chairman of the National Medical Commission (NMC). FAIMA urged NMC to take action to address the concerns of foreign medical graduates in India. "These individuals have worked hard to obtain their medical degrees and are eager to contribute to the healthcare system in India. It is our responsibility to ensure that they have the necessary training and support to do so."

FAIMA has suggested several measures to deal with the issue including- increasing the number of internship seats available for the FMGs in both government and private hospitals, establishing a dedicated system for allocating these seats, creating a task force to monitor the progress of FMGs during their internship, encouraging the private hospitals to participate in this program by offering incentives such as tax breaks and other benefits.

"Around 2000 #FMGs applied for internship in delhi itself against total seats of just 43. We demand urgent intervention of @PMOIndia in this regard as @NMC_IND is not listening to issue of #FMGs despite multiple representations," FAIMA mentioned in the recent Tweet.

Also Read: Delhi Medical Council moves Health Ministry after FMGs denied Internship seats at LHMC, VMMC