FMGs not to be charged fees for Internship at GMCs in Bihar
FMG Internship
Patna:Bringing good news to the foreign medical graduates in Bihar, the State Government on Tuesday announced that no fees will be charged from the FMGs for undergoing internships at government medical colleges and hospitals.
Apart from this, the State Government has also decided to provide stipends and other facilities to medical graduates from abroad at par with those extended to Indian Medical Graduates, officials informed PTI.
These decisions were taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by the Chief Minister of the State, Nitish Kumar on Tuesday. In this regard, Additional Chief Secretary (Cabinet Secretariat), S Siddharth said, "Now, government medical colleges or hospitals will not charge any fee from the medical graduates from abroad for permitting them to do internships in the state."
"The maximum FMG quota in internship will be 7.5 per cent of the institute's total permitted seats. Majority of the FMGs were those who returned to India after the COVID-19 outbreak and the Ukraine war with incomplete internships," he further informed.
As per the latest media report by the Times of India, the FMGs will be able to undergo internship after their registration with the Bihar Medical Council. Cabinet Secretariat Department Additional Chief Secretary S Siddharth informed that the steps were taken on the basis of the directions issued by the National Medical Commission (NMC). The proposal had been moved by the State Health Department.
The State Cabinet has also approved a policy to regulate chit fund companies in the state. "With the cabinet approving a policy in this regard, the government can now confiscate properties of those chit fund companies who operate illegally," Siddharth said.
Further, the Bihar cabinet also announced incentives for setting up compressed biogas units. The state government will provide an incentive of 15 per cent of the total capital investment or Rs 5 crore in case of investors belonging to the general category, he added.
Medical Dialogues had last year reported that providing major relief to the Foreign Medical Graduates who want to pursue internship in India, NMC had clarified that the Indian medical colleges shall not charge any fees from the medical graduates from abroad for permitting them to do internship in India.
In fact, the apex medical regulator had further made it clear that the FMGs would be paid equal stipend and other facilities just like the Indian Medical Graduates who are being trained at Government Medical Colleges.
However, this matter was again addressed by NMC this year when it issued a clarification regarding the conduct of internships for medical graduates from abroad.
Putting an end to the confusion of the Foreign Medical Graduates (FMGs), the National Medical Commission (NMC) has now issued a clarification regarding the conduct of internships for medical graduates from abroad. Issuing a circular in this regard on May 9, 2023, the President of UG Medical Education Board (UGMEB), Dr. Aruna V Vanikar addressed several issues including important provisions under CRMI Regulations 2021 for the FMGs, 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, and one-time relaxation to Foreign Medical Graduates to complete internship.
Referring to the issue of stipend, the NMC mentioned, "National Medical Commission vide Circular dated 19.05.2022, requested to all Directorates of Medical Education & State Medical Councils to ensure that no internship fee is charged by the medical colleges/institutes from these interns Indian and Foreign Medical Graduates and stipend including other facilities is being provided to FMGs as equivalent to Indian Medical Graduates in the States/UTs."
"However, considering the requests/representations from various State Governments/UTs/medical colleges wherein it was intimated that there has been no budgetary provision in their allocation of annual budget to provide stipend to Foreign Medical Graduates, the Commission vide circular dated 19.10.2022 has already clarified that the amount of stipend to be paid to the interns is to be decided/fixed by the appropriate authority applicable to the Institution/University or State. The implementation of these guidelines/instructions/advisory is solely at the discretion of the concerned State authorities under which the medical college/institute is located," it added.
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