State Medical Council bound by NMC norms! says Health Minister amid protest by FMGs
protest
Vijayawada: Amid the protests and objections by Foreign Medical Graduates regarding their internship tenure, the Andhra Pradesh Medical and Health Minister Satya Kumar Yadav clarified that the State Government has to comply with the National Medical Commission's (NMC) guidelines for the Foreign Medical Graduates (FMGs).
When the matter was raised in the Legislative Assembly, the Minister said on Tuesday i.e. March 4, 2025, "The Registrar of the Andhra Pradesh Medical Council does not have any independent authority to modify the NMC guidelines issued from time to time."
"As per the NMC guidelines, the FMGs who studied online during their final year should have to do two years of internship (one year is clinical clerkship and one year is internship), and those who studied online during both penultimate and final years must complete three years of internship (two years will be clinical clerkship and one-year internship)," the Minister added.
Also Read: Permanent registration only when FMGs comply with NMC guidelines: Andhra Medical Council
As per the latest media report by The Hindu, the issue was raised in the Assembly as Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MLAs Pusapati Aditi Gajapathi Raju, Nelavala Vijaysree, and Gondu Sankara Rao served a notice under Rule 74 calling the attention of the Minister on the 'problems of foreign medical graduates'.
Making a statement, the Minister said that some of the FMGs who returned to India due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war, and studied their MBBS course party online, had requested the Andhra Pradesh Medical Council for granting Permanent Registration after completing one year of internship as per the compensation certificates issued by the respective universities and also as per the NMC guidelines.
He mentioned that after verifying the compensation letters submitted by the FMGs, it was found that they did not mention the period of online study and the period of compensation for online study with the offline mode.
Therefore, the Council did not consider their applications for Permanent Registrations and they were asked to continue their internship for a period of one year more to make up for the loss of clinical training due to online study. However, the FMGs allegedly ignored the Council's order, said the Minister.
He further mentioned that those, who completed their entire course in the offline mode abroad, were being granted Permanent Registrations after completing one year of Internship in Andhra Pradesh. The rules demand that the FMGs undergo a Compulsory Rotating Medical Internship (CRMI) programme for one year after obtaining their provisional registrations from the State Medical Council.
"The A.P. Medical Council is continuously communicating with the NMC for necessary instructions regarding the issues raised by the FMGs," assured the Minister.
Medical Dialogues has been reporting about the issues faced by the FMGs while obtaining permanent registration. They were also complaining about the tenure of the internship assigned to them even though they duly compensated for their online classes. Reportedly, around 150 students, who pursued their medical education from abroad and applied for permanent registration after completing their one-year internship back in May, had not been allotted the Permanent Registration.
As per the association, NMC guidelines state that 1year internship is allocated only to those students who returned back to their countries and compensated their missed classes. But students claim that APMC failed to implement the NMC guidelines which in turn affected more than 200 students. Even though they comply with the NMC guidelines, allegedly, they are being allotted 2-3 years of internship, in violation of the NMC directives, alleged the association.
Recently they submitted a representation to the Andhra Pradesh Medical Council highlighting their concerns. The association has time and again alleged that instead of providing a solution, the Council officials have cited reasons like lack of clarification from the National Medical Commission (NMC), or the absence of a Chairman and Board in the Council, etc.
Amid the continuous pleas and protests by the FMGs in the State, the Andhra Pradesh Medical Council clarified that it was issuing permanent registrations to eligible FMGs who have complied with the NMC guidelines after receiving confirmation from the concerned Indian Embassies.
Consequently, the AIMSA-FMSW met the key officers in the Health Department recently and also had a discussion regarding the issues faced by them with the Chief Minister of the State N. Chandrababu Naidu.
