NMC allows FMG Internship in 679 Non-Teaching Hospitals as one-time relaxation, details

New Delhi: 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) has allowed them to get enrolled at the non-teaching hospitals for this purpose.

In the recent circular, the president of the Undergraduate Medical Education Board (UGMEB) of NMC has 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.

"This relaxation is granted only as a one-time measure," NMC clarified in the circular dated May 9, 2023.

The Apex medical commission has further mentioned in the circular that "The allotment of FMGs in these Non-Teaching Hospitals shall also be done only through concerned State Medical Councils."

According to the list of recognized non-teaching hospitals annexed with the NMC circular for the purpose of FMG Internship, there are a total number of 679 such Hospitals in 23 States/UTs across the country (including the Military and Railway Hospitals).

The data shared by the Apex medical commission reveals that the highest number of non-teaching hospitals have been approved in Maharashtra for the medical graduates from abroad to get enrolled for the internship programme. In Maharashtra, 74 such hospitals have been approved by NMC. Uttar Pradesh comes at the second place having 72 hospitals recognized fo this purpose.

Apart from these, NMC has recognized another 30 hospitals in Andhra Pradesh, 1 hospital in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, 27 hospitals in Assam, 29 hospitals in Bihar, 21 hospitals in Delhi, 49 hospitals in Gujarat, 6 hospitals in Himachal Pradesh, 20 hospitals in Kerala, 45 hospitals in Madhya Pradesh, 40 hospitals in Tamil Nadu, 62 hospitals in Karnataka, 17 hospitals in Orissa, 42 hospitals in Punjab and Haryana, 2 hospitals in Jammu and Kashmir, 1 hospital in Manipur, another 1 hospital in Nagaland, 62 hospitals in Rajasthan, 1 hospital in Tripura, 33 hospitals in West Bengal, 1 in Daman & Diu, and 1 in Dadra & Nagar Haveli.

NMC has also approved altogether 15 Military Hospitals and 27 Railway Hospitals across India, where the FMG students can get enrolled for the Internship Programme.

The relaxation from NMC has come when thousands of medical graduates from abroad were facing difficulties to get enrolled for the mandatory Internship programme in India. It is mandatory for Foreign Medical Graduates to clear the Foreign Medical Graduates Examination (FMGE) and then fulfill the requirement of Internship as mandated by NMC. Only after that, the FMGs are given registration to practice in India.

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

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.

In a recent meeting with the NMC officials, the Federation of Resident Doctors Association (FORDA) also communicated the problem with the authorities. After the meeting on May 4, FORDA assured that a solution would soon be provided by the Apex medical commission, most likely within one week.

Finally, NMC issued a circular addressing the concerns of the FMGs regarding several issues including validation for Online study by Commission, applicability of NMC Public notice dated 28.07.2022 on FMGs, requirement of Domicile by FMGs for internship, completion of Internship by FMGs in parts at hospitals and medical colleges, issue concerning payment of stipend to FMGs among others.

Providing one-time relxatation to the Foreign Medical Graduates (FMGs) to complete Internship, NMC has also addressed the concerns of thousands of FMGs who were unable to get enrolled for the Internship Programme.

Addressing the matter, NMC mentioned in the circular, "A number of requests/queries received from different State Medical Councils regarding non-availability of seats for FMGs to start their internships at their State/UT especially due to the implementation of the two years' internship for FMGs. Their request has been considered in National Medical Commission favourably in the Coordination Meeting of Chairman, NMC with Presidents and Members of the four Boards of NMC held on 2nd May 2023."

"After careful consideration of the situation and issue faced by the FMGs in order to explore seats to complete their internship, it is decided by UGMEB to validate the list of Recognized Non-teaching Hospitals for Compulsory Rotating Medical Internship issued by the erstwhile Medical Council of India, for a period of one year from the issue of this circular i.e. upto May 2024, for conduct of internship for Foreign Medical Graduates only. List of Recognized Non-teaching Hospitals for Compulsory Rotating Medical Internship issued by the erstwhile Medical Council of India is at Annexure. This relaxation is granted only as a one-time measure," the circular further mentioned.

"The allotment of FMGs in these Non-teaching Hospitals shall also be done only through concerned State Medical Councils," clarified the Commission.

To view the list of non-teaching hospitals recognized for FMG Internship, click on the link below:

https://medicaldialogues.in/pdf_upload/fmg-209268.pdf

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