New Delhi: In light of the coronavirus pandemic, more than 20,000 foreign medical graduates (FMGs) have approached the government to allow them to work as doctors without the mandatory bridge exam that they otherwise have to clear to practice in India.
The All India Foreign Medical Graduates Association sent a letter addressed to the President, Prime Minister and the Health Minister of the country in March, seeking licenses to work as doctors and aid in the fight against Covid-19.
Some of the FMGs sent another letter to the government in June. However, they have not yet received a reply from either the health ministry or the Medical Council of India (MCI).
The graduates who complete their MBBS from countries like China, Ukraine, Russia, Bangladesh, Philippines, Nepal and Kazakhstan, have to clear the Foreign Medical Graduate Exam to practice in India, as mandated by the MCI. MBBS graduates from the US, UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand do not need to write this exam.
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Shortage of doctors in India, say FMGs
In the letters, the FMGs cited the shortage of doctors in the country as the primary reason to let them enter the workforce. According to the latest government figures, India has one doctor for every 1,457 citizens.
“There are thousands of Modern Medicine Trained foreign medical graduates (FMGs) of Indian origin who completed their medical education from abroad, waiting to register in their country. Currently, these FMGs have to clear the MCI screening test. The FMGs also want to serve our country where there is a huge crisis of doctors in India,” read the letter dated 27 March.
As a result, the FMGs have asked for a “one-time exemption” from the exam and permission to register with the MCI.
The appeal states that this step will add 20,000 MBBS doctors and 3,000 specialists to the current workforce.
The letter sent in June notes, “Most of the exams in the country are getting cancelled due to Covid-19 and we are getting short of medical staff which was already below the population ratio.”
“So if we could get a single time exemption from the exam and kept to the government compulsory contract, we will strengthen the healthcare system,” it added.
ThePrint contacted the health ministry for an official comment, but did not receive a response at the time of publishing.
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Most FMGs do not clear exam: Govt
According to government sources, the ministry is not too keen on allowing the FMGs to enter the workforce since they are often not able to clear the exam.
“Government wants to maintain a certain standard which is why foreign medical graduates cannot be allowed to practice without the mandatory test. There is a reason why that test was introduced in the first place. And if you see, each year, more than 80 percent of these graduates are unable to pass the test, which means they are not fit to practice,” a health ministry official, who did not wish to be named, told ThePrint.
The official’s claims are in line with government data on foreign medical graduates. The data available indicates that only a fraction of those who write the FMG test, pass every year. For instance, in 2018-19, only 15.10 per cent of the applicants cleared the exam.
“Our health minister is a qualified doctor too and he knows the repercussions of giving a one-time exemption like this,” the official added.
The Indian Medical Association (IMA) also echoed the government’s views.
Dr R.V. Asokan, honorary secretary-general of the IMA, told ThePrint, “These doctors who complete their MBBS from other countries come from a different kind of background and different kind of discipline that is maintained in medical colleges. We have to know how competent they are, which is why the test was introduced and there is nothing wrong in that.”
“In IMA’s opinion, the government should not concede to such pressure tactics,” he added.
Asokan also did not agree with the claim that India faced a shortage of doctors, and recommends using Indian doctors who were unable to clear their postgraduate exams instead.
“There is no dearth of doctors in India…every year nearly 1.5 lakh students pass out and get their MBBS degree, they then sit for the PG exam and many of them are unable to clear it, so they are jobless. State governments can employ such people in their hospitals and make use of their knowledge, but they do not want to do that,” he said.
Some of the FMGs, who have written to the government, failed the test by a margin while the others could not write the exam because it was postponed this year due to the pandemic.
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