972 MBBS students went to study abroad without eligibility certificate: NMC

NEW DELHI: The National Medical Commission (NMC) has observed that 972 students proceeded to study abroad for MBBS without an eligibility certificate. The commission has provided 10-days time to such students to submit their applications for obtaining the certificate.

NMC said that if such candidates do not fulfill the deficiency within the given deadline, their applications will be rejected. The commission has issued a list of candidates with pending applications including their names, father’s names, and application numbers.

“It is observed that applicants whose name is mentioned in Annexure-I have proceeded abroad without obtaining an Eligibility Certificate. Therefore, it has been decided by the Board to give 10 days time to all such applicants (Annexure-I) to submit their applications in the eligibility portal of NMC. In case, the applicants whose name is mentioned in Annexure-I do not fulfill the deficiency or do not submit the applications within 10 days from the date of publication of this notice the applications will be summarily rejected,” said NMC in an official notice.

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In October this year, NMC had invited applications for the FMGE 2023 eligibility certificate. The Ethics and Medical Registration Board (EMRB) of NMC reviewed the applications and found some deficiencies.

The commission invited attention of students to the guidelines of the Indian Medical Council Act 1956 according to which, “A person who is a citizen of India shall not, after such date as may be specified by the Central Government under sub-section (3), be eligible to get admission to obtain medical qualification granted by any medical institution in any foreign country without obtaining an eligibility certificate issued to him by the Council and in case any such person obtains such qualification without obtaining such eligibility certificate, he shall not be eligible to appear in the screening test.”

NMC went on to say that the requirement of an eligibility certificate for studying abroad has been started after the declaration of National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) UG 2019 result and qualifying NEET exam has been made mandatory for Indian and Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) students to take MBBS admission in a foreign institution.