Andhra FMGs Protest in front of Medical Council's office demanding clarity on Permanent Registrations
Foreign Medical Graduates
Vijayawada: Demanding clarification on the pending Permanent Registrations, around 50 medical graduates from abroad staged a protest recently in front of the Andhra Pradesh Medical Council (APMC) office in Vijayawada.
This is the second time in the four months that the FMGs have protested in front of the Council office. They sought to know whether and when the council would issue their Permanent Registrations.
The FMGs were joined by some of their parents and they protested for one hour on Monday. According to these medical graduates from abroad, it had been seven months since they applied for their PRs and despite this, the Government did not respond.
According to the existing rules, medical graduates from abroad must clear the Foreign Medical Graduates Examination (FMGE), after which they are required to undergo mandatory internship. Only after this, the FMGs can apply for Permanent Registrations and after getting the registration number they become eligible to practice in India.
However, without permanent registrations, the FMGs are even not allowed to register for the counselling for NEET PG examination. Commenting on this a foreign medico at the protest told The Hindu, "No one seems to understand how pressured we feel. We are all aged between 28 and 30. How many days can we sit idle after completing our MBBS course? Some of us have even cleared the NEET exam but are not allowed to appear for counselling as we don’t have the PR."
Previously, issuing guidelines on June 19, the National Medical Commission (NMC) had mentioned that only those who have compensatory certificates from their parent universities would be eligible to undergo the one-year internship.
Referring to this, the medico said, "All of us have the certificates. If the APMC wanted us to do a two-year internship, they should have told us the same at the time of allotment and not now."
"The government doesn’t seem to understand that our careers are at stake. If we we do not receive the PRs before the beginning of the PG NEET counselling, we will end up losing the year," said another FMG.
The FMGs have affirmed that they would not leave the city until they received a clarification or a written assurance regarding their PRs. Further, the medicos also informed that they were considering the possibility of taking the matter to the Court.
Meanwhile, according to the Andhra Pradesh Medical Council, it was only following the NMC rules. Commenting on the issue, APMC Registrar I. Ramesh clarified that he was not against the welfare of the graduates. However, he was trying to ensure a transparent process in view of the reports that that a few medical graduates from abroad had obtained 'fake' certificates to get the PRs.
Mentioning that he did not have any information on how long the process would take, Dr. Ramesh added, "We are sending all the degrees and marks transcripts to be scrutinised by the Embassies in other countries. We are waiting for the Embassies to confirm if those degrees are genuine. The list of genuine candidates is awaited from the Embassies. Once the list arrives, the candidates shall receive the PRs."
