NBE collected Rs 23 crore as application fees for FMGE December 2022 session, reveals RTI

New Delhi: The National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS, NBE) received more than Rs 23 crore as fees for application form for Foreign Medical Graduate Exam (FMGE) conducted in January 2023.

Data regarding this has been shared by NBE while responding to a Right to Information (RTI) application filed by social, political and RTI Activist Vivek Pandey.

The application fees for appearing in the FMGE is Rs 7,080. Referring to this RTI activist Vivek Pandey mentioned in a recent Tweet, "This is one of the highest fees among all medical exams in India."

It is mandatory for the MBBS graduates from abroad to clear the FMGE exam to become able to get themselves registered and to practice medicine in India.

Filing the RTI application, social and political activist Vivek Pandey sought details regarding the total number of students registered for FMGE December 2022 along with the total number of students application form rejected.

He also requested NBE for the details regarding the main reasons for rejecting the applications of students for FMGE January 2023, and the data regarding the amount of money NBE collected from the application form fees.  Apart from this, he also sought the details of amount of money NBE returned to students whose application forms were rejected.

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Replying to the queries raised in the RTI application, NBE mentioned that altogether 33001 students registered for FMGE January 2023 exam. Among these, 1058 applications got rejected for the exam. 

Explaining the reason why those applications got rejected, NBE stated, "Due to non fulfillment the eligibility criteria as mentioned in the Information Bulletin."

Providing the details regarding the amount of money received from the application forms for FMGE January 2023 exam, NBE replied, "NBEMS has received a sum of Rs 233675400. 00 from FMGE candidates."

Regarding the query about the details of the amount of money that NBE returned to the students whose application forms got rejected, the RTI reply stated, "As per the clause 2.8.4 of Information Bulletin FMGE December 2022- Candidates who fail to submit duly completed applications for FMGE Dec 2022 with requisite documents and/or fail to rectify the deficiencies in their applications by the last date prescribed (i.e. 20th November 2022) for rectification shall be declared ineligible. Admit Card shall not be issued to candidates who are declared ineligible before conduct of examination. In such cases, the entire fees will be forfeited."

Tweeting about the RTI reply from NBE, activist Vivek Pandey mentioned, "This is one of the highest fees among all medical exams in India (₹7080). Why is this happening ?"

FMGE was conducted by NBE on January 20, 2023. Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that thousands of medical graduates from abroad were facing troubles with appearing for the test, since they were denied the admit cards by NBE even after filling up the application form.

NBE had allegedly denied them admits for errors in the uploading documents essential for the application. In some cases, the admit card was not issued because of eligibility certificate and blurred photograph, while for the other students the reasons are Apostille stamp, medical qualification certificates, or absence of attestation of the documents by Indian Embassy.

Although these FMGs had approached the NBE and urged the authorities for allowing them to edit their application, they were denied any relief on the ground that they could not make the required corrections within time.

Also Read: Thousands of FMGE candidates denied admit card for errors in application process, NBE denies Relief