More than 27,000 FMGs Fail NBE Screening Test, Only 21 percent qualify: Experts call for lowering difficulty level to moderate

New Delhi: Just like last year, this year also, a major number of candidates who appeared in the Foreign Medical Graduates Examination (FMGE) for June 2024 session, could not clear the screening test. As per the results released by the National Board of Examinations (NBE), more than 27,000 candidates i.e. around 81.7% candidates failed the FMGE exam while only 21.6% of candidates cleared it. 

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that NBE declared the results of FMGE June 2024 on 16th July 2024. According to the data shared by NBE, altogether 35819 medical graduates from abroad registered for the exam.

Among them, 2422 candidates were absent from the test. Therefore, altogether, 33,397 candidates appeared in the screening test. The data revealed that only 7,233 candidates were successful in clearing the exam, which is a mandatory requirement for the FMGs to be able to get registered as a doctor in India and commence practice.

Also Read: FMGE June 2024 Results OUT, Scorecards Available from July 24

As per the NBE data, a total number of 27,297 candidates failed the exam. Therefore, considering the total number of 33,397 candidates who appeared in the test, this year, the pass percentage in the FMGE exam is around 21.6%, and around 81.7% candidates have failed the test.

Meanwhile, NBE "withheld" the results of altogether 78 candidates. Addressing this, NBE mentioned in the notice dated 16.07.2024, "The result of 78 candidates have been kept "WITHHELD" due to pending clarification from National Medical Commission/outcome of Exam Ethics Committee."

For the June 2023 cycle of the Foreign Medical Graduates Examination, shockingly more than 87% of the candidates had failed in the exam. Only a very few candidates i.e. altogether 2474 medical graduates from abroad cleared the FMGE June 2023 test. However, what had shocked everyone is that a huge number of 21,180 candidates out of the total 24269 candidates failed the exam, therefore, resulting in the failure of more than 87% of the total candidates.

Similarly, in December 2023 cycle of the screening test, 78% candidates failed the test and only 20% candidates were able to clear it. 

Also Read: Around 78 percent of Candidates Fail in FMGE December 2023 exam

As per the latest media report by Pune Mirror, amid this situation, medical education experts and parents have urged the authorities concerned to bring down the difficulty level of this test to a moderate level. Speaking to the Daily, a career counsellor Durgesh Mangeshkar pointed out, "The central government has increased the difficulty level of the qualifying examination. It was necessary. Medical care is a very important subject. There should be no room for laxity in it. While considering medical education abroad, parents must consider the percentage of its results. Because there is a fear that students' lives will be at stake."

Parents and experts have opined that in this way, most of the students who fail to clear the test will remain just 12th-pass in their academic career. Therefore, they urged the authorities to bring the difficulty level to moderate level. They also suggested that the students simultaneously study for the exam while pursuing their medical education abroad.

In this regard, a higher education counsellor told Mirror, "I will suggest to all parents and the students who wish to take admission to foreign medical colleges that they prepare for the FMGE syllabus along with their studies. Unfortunately, Indian medical education is based on theoretical orientation. Hence, foreign medical university students find it difficult to crack this eligibility test. Some students spend six to eight years in this process."

Also Read: FMGE June 2023 Results Out, More than 87 percent Candidates Fail the test