A section of foreign medical graduates may have their postgraduate studies delayed and some working doctors will be forced back into an internship as a result of India’s top medical regulator’s decision to require a two-year internship, according to impacted graduates.
On October 19, the National Medical Commission (NMC) ordered that foreign graduates who took any online classes during the Covid-19 outbreak serve an additional year of their mandatory one-year internship.
Additionally, numerous medical colleges have been accused of failing to pay foreign medical graduates the stipends that are required by the NMC’s own regulations. They claim that the second year of unpaid internships will put some of them in a dire financial situation.
In order to make up for the lack of physical clinical training during the pandemic, the NMC has advised state medical councils and state medical education directorates that foreign medical graduates with any online coursework must complete a two-year mandatory internship after passing the FMGE.
In addition to other requirements, all foreign medical graduates must pass the FMGE in order to practice medicine in the nation.
Medical school graduates rotate through many clinical departments during their internship, including general surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, and others in no particular order. They observe, help, and learn for periods of one week to more than four weeks in any given department.
However, some foreign medical graduates who passed the FMGE and successfully completed a one-year internship claim the state medical councils have asked them to renounce their licenses and return to internship, citing the NMC’s order of October 19.
The doctor spent a few months working at a private hospital in New Delhi before going back to his native Kerala to prepare for the national entrance exam for postgraduate medical programs.
In a notice published on October 31 of this year, the Punjab Medical Council cited the NMC’s order from October 19 and stated that the registration of foreign medical graduates who had taken any online classes and had completed one-year internships stand revoked.
The candidates must give up their registration certificates and complete an additional year of internship, according to the council.
In any case, it can be challenging for foreign medical graduates to find internships.
According to guidelines issued by the NMC on March 6 of this year, all medical institutions are required to offer foreign medical graduates 7.5% of internship places as well as the same stipends and other benefits that Indian medical graduates receive at government medical colleges.
However, a number of interns who attended international medical schools and afterward graduated claimed they never paid a single rupee.
According to the intern, the approximately 200 foreign medical graduates working as interns at Lohia Hospital and the 60 to 80 interns at Hindu Rao Hospital and Safdarjung Hospital, both in New Delhi, do not receive stipends.
In contrast, according to two interns, graduates of Indian medical universities are paid stipends for their internships that range from Rs 17,000 to Rs 26,500 a month. “Is this not prejudice? Another Delhi intern remarked, “When we ask for stipends, we are advised to be grateful that we have internships.
Senior surgeon in Mumbai and NMC member Utture claimed that the NMC had categorically requested that medical colleges pay foreign medical graduates the same stipends as domestic students.
News Mania Desk
