TN FMGs announce hunger strike over provisional registration certificate, internship crisis
Chennai: Condemning the long delay in issuing the provisional registration certificates, the commencement of mandatory internships, the limited number of seats available in Government medical colleges, and the tenure of internship, the FMGs in Tamil Nadau have decided to hold a hunger strike in Chennai in the first week of January 2026.
The decision to hold the hunger strike was taken at the State Executive Committee meeting of the Tamil Nadu Medical Students Association-Foreign Medical Graduates Wing (TNMSA-FMG) on Friday (05.12.2025) evening. Presided over by the State President, Dr. N.M. Saran, the meeting was also attended by State General Secretary of Doctors for Social Equality Dr. G. R. Ravindranath, Secretary, Dr. A. R. Shanthi, Secretary of Tamil Nadu Medical Students Association – FMG Wing, Dr. S. Vasanth Philip Abishak, Vice President Dr. A. Jayalakshmi, Executive Committee Chairman Dr. DS. Aravindhan, Dr. M. Yugesh, and several Executive Committee members.
In the meeting, it was decided to push for five demands. The association has demanded that TNMC must stop delaying the issuance of Provisional Eligibility Certificates to FMGs, the Council must also withdraw the practice of mandating 2 or 3 years of CRMI training for many FMGs against NMC guidelines.
Further, it has demanded that the current 7.5% allocation of CRMI seats for FMGs in all medical colleges must be increased to 20% as already mentioned by Hon'ble Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu M.K. Stalin, FMGs must be allowed to undergo CRMI training in District Headquarters Hospitals as well as per NMC approval, and hostel facilities must be provided for FMGs working as CRMI interns. The association has resolved to organize a hunger strike in Chennai to press for these demands.
Even after clearing the mandatory screening test, Foreign Medical Graduates Examination (FMGE) last year in June, around 1500 medical graduates from abroad are still awaiting their internship.
Explaining the issue in detail, Dr. Vasanth Philip Abishak, Secretary, Tamil Nadu Medical Students' Association - Foreign Medical Graduates Wing, told Medical Dialogues that there are a very few number of seats for FMG internship in Government Medical Colleges.
He said, "There are a total of 37 medical colleges. Only 393 seats are available in Tamil Nadu. Contradictorily, FMGE is held twice a year. Per year, from Tamil Nadu itself, 1500 graduates are passing the FMGE exam. Therefore, a candidate, willing to undergo internship at the Government medical colleges has to wait for around one to one and half years."
"NMC also permitted to undergo the internship in private medical colleges. But private medical colleges are charging too much fees for the internship. Students can't afford that much money, and so students from Tamil Nadu are more likely to pursue their internship in government medical colleges. In the year 2021, there were 11 new medical colleges were opened in Tamil Nadu. So, we got around 1450 seats. Since the old students are going to commence their internship in June 2026, the TNMC has stopped approving the internship seats to the FMGs without any prior notice from the month of August," he added.
Dr. Abishak mentioned that a letter has already been sent to the Commission in this regard. He also explained that another issue for the shortage of internship seats is that NMC back in 2021 decreased the FMG internship seats from 10 % to 7.5%. Following this, the students had approached the Chief Minister and in 2022, CM Stalin had requested the Union Health Minister to increase the seats from 7.5% to 20% to compensate. However, the issue is still pending.
"Since the seat crisis is bing faced all across India, NMC provided a relaxation and allowed FMGs to undergo internships at non-teaching hospitals. Until now, Tamil Nadu Medical Council did not receive the number of allotted seats from NMC. Now the Directorate of DME is involved in this and sent a letter to NMC," said Dr. Abishak, adding that the DME back in August sent the number of district hospitals, bed strength, in-flow and out flow of the hospitals, and how many surgeries are being done inside the hospitals and what type of surgeries etc. He added that despite this, NMC till now has not decided how many seats can be allotted to these non-teaching hospitals. Already, the association has met with the Health Minister, who has directed the office to send a letter to NMC. He also issued directions in this regard to the DME.
Dr. Abishak also highlighted that the shortage of seats is also caused due to the fact that several students, who could not go back to their countries due to the COVID pandemic or the Russia-Ukraine war, were directed to undergo 2-3 years of internship by NMC. Referring to NMC notice dated 19.06.2024, he argued that even though some students went back and wrote their final exams in offline mode, they are being allotted 2-3 years of internship, against the directions issued by NMC in this regard.
Meanwhile, TNMSA FMG Wing also visited MP Dr. Thamizhachi Thangapandian and explained the hardships faced by them. The MP has assured the students to raise the issue in the parliament.
Also Read: TN FMGs to Hold Protest over Delay in Eligibility Certificates
