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

Jaipur: Protesting against the limited number of seats in counselling for the mandatory Compulsory Rotating Medical Internship (CRMI), Foreign Medical Graduates (FMGs) staged a protest in Rajasthan recently while urging the government to take immediate steps.

The medicos staged a protest near one of the Medical Colleges of Rajasthan and stated, " We are asking for our right, we are not begging for a seat. We will be on strike today till our voice is heard. We want justice" 

The 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, reports Career 360.

The NBE announced the FMGE December results in February this year. To practice medicine in India, students who finished their MBBS at foreign institutions approved by the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) must take the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE). After passing the FMGE exam, they must also complete the mandatory medical internship.

Standing in solidarity with the protesting medicos, the All India Medical Students’ Association (AIMSA) has also threatened to go on protest if the state government does not take any steps to improve the situation. “AIMSA requests Rajasthan Government to consider FMG graduate's demands at the earliest otherwise #AIMSA will launch statewide agitation for justice for #FMG Graduates,” it said.

On the other hand, the Rajasthan Medical Council (RMC) stated that they have allocated seats following the guidelines provided by the National Medical Council (NMC). One of the protesting medicos stated that the person who has even scored 150 in the FMG exam and thus passed the exam is eligible to get a seat for the mandatory internship. Another medico added," if our domicile state does not provide us the chance to complete the compulsory internship, how can we expect that some other state is going to consider non-domicile doctors rather than their own medicos? What will be our future then?"

One of the aggravated medicos added," Himachal medicos also encountered similar problems. However, the CM took immediate steps to accommodate all the FMGE-qualified candidates so that they can start their mandatory internship. What cant this state do the same?" 

 Jammu and Kashmir Medical Students Association have also expressed its solidarity with the protesting medical graduates to increase the internship seats. 

An activist wrote on Twitter, “This is very a shameful situation for us to see FMGE passed students didn’t get a seat for internship in their domicile state Rajasthan. What kind of management is this?”