CBI searches 91 locations over foreign medical graduates practising in India without FMGE qualification

NEW DELHI: The CBI conducted searches at 91 locations across the country on Thursday in connection with its investigation against several state medical councils and foreign medical graduates who were allowed to practise in India without qualifying a mandatory test, officials said.

The agency had registered an FIR against 14 state medical councils and 73 foreign medical graduates who were allowed to practise medicine in India without qualifying the mandatory Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE), they said.

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According to norms, a foreign medical graduate must qualify FMGE and screening Test conducted by the National Board of Examination (NBE) in order to get provisional or permanent registration with the National Medical Commission or a state medical council to practise medicine in India. The sources said NBE sends its results to candidates as well as councils, they said.

When fake eligibility certificates were produced by these candidates, medical councils could have verified it from the results directly sent to them by NBE, they said. The CBI registers case of alleged corruption, criminal conspiracy, forgery and cheating against unidentified officials of state medical councils, the erstwhile Medical Council of India, and 73 foreign medical graduates, the officials said.

"Such fraudulent and fake registration by non-qualified persons will be detrimental to the health and well-being of citizens. It has inter-state ramifications in health sector," a complaint from Union Health Ministry to the CBI said.