TN: Medical Council allows FMG CRRI Training at medical colleges subject to 10 percent intake of sanctioned MBBS seats

This came after the Medical Council, in an urgent communication, stated that it observed an unprecedented rise in the number of FMGs who apply for the provisional registration certificate in the council as it is a necessary prerequisite to start their CRRI training.

In 2018 the number of these foreign graduates who sought provisional registration was 600, however, it increased up to 1000 in 2020 and is most likely to hike up to 1200 in the future.

The council stated that though the number of foreign medicos applying for the internship is increasing, the number of recognized medical institutions responsible for providing internship training to these FMGs has not increased sufficiently.

Pointing out that there is still a scarcity of adequate institutions to accommodate all these foreign medical graduates, the council mentioned in the communication, " they are unable to accommodate the increasing number of interns, with a resultant crowding in a particular institution. The loss in quality of internship training in such institutions is understandable."

Referring to the list of recognized teaching and non-teaching hospitals for CRRI training, the council further mentioned that only 40% of these institutes have been approved by the erstwhile Medical Council of India (MCI) and there has been no significant update on the data yet. The council has already approached the National Medical Commission (NMC) and requested it to furnish a fresh list of hospitals and institutions that are approved for providing the training.

Meanwhile, the council has also instructed all the government district headquarters hospitals with a bed strength of more than 750 to allow only 40 FMGs to continue their training in the hospital while the facilities with more than 500 beds have been asked to allow only 30 FMGs. As far as the rest of the private hospitals are concerned, they have been instructed to abide by the guidelines and order of erstwhile MCI till a fresh communication is issued by the National Medical Commission.

The Council's directions become significantly important, as a few days ago, the FMGs were allowed to start their CRRIs in the state. Medical Dialogues team had earlier reported that in an attempt to manage the current situation of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Tamil Nadu Government decided to rope in about 500 foreign medical graduates to join the fight against the pandemic and lifted the restriction on the intake of students for Compulsory Rotatory Residential Internship or CRRI at government medical colleges as a one-time measure.

The decision was taken after the Director of Medical Education (DME) had sought a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Government for the CRRI to students of other States, private colleges, and other universities, and foreign medical graduates without any ceiling. The proposal was to relax the Tamil Nadu Medical Council's stipulation that medical colleges issue the NOC to foreign medical graduates and students of other States after ensuring that the admission under the CRRI did not exceed 10% of the MBBS seats allotted by the National Medical Commission. Subsequently, an order was issued that clarified that FMGs upon passing the qualifying examination by the National Medical Commission (NMC), erstwhile Medical Council of India (MCI), can join the fight against the pandemic after getting into the CRRI program.

According to a recent media report in The Hindu, DME had requested the authorities to relax the restrictions on FMGs especially at Madras Medical College, Stanley Medical College, Kilpauk Medical College, Madurai Medical College, Mohan Kumaramangalam Medical College of Salem, Coimbatore Medical College, and Tirunelveli Medical College and the government agreed to it.

However, the TNMC has capped the intake of foreign medicos at 10% of the sanctioned MBBS seats.

When questioned about the development, Dr Kumaraguru, the secretary of FMG wing of Tamil Nadu Medical Student Association told Medical Dialogues, " Nothing has been confirmed yet. We are yet to receive any direction from TNMC regarding the cap on FMGs pursuing their CRRIs in different institutes and hospitals all over the state."