Data of students going abroad to pursue MBBS not maintained centrally: Govt

NEW DELHI: The data of students going abroad to pursue MBBS is not maintained centrally, the government informed Parliament on Friday. In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar said a student who has acquired foreign medical qualification from a medical institute abroad is required to qualify in the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE) before applying for registration to practise medicine in India.

She said clause 8(iv) of the Medical Institution Regulation, 2002 says any Indian citizen or overseas citizen of India intending to obtain primary medical qualification from a medical institution outside India on or after May 2018 shall have to mandatorily qualify in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for admission to the MBBS course.

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"The result of the NEET shall deem to be treated as the eligibility certificate for such persons and no separate permission is required from the NMC (National Medical Commission). Therefore, data of students going abroad to pursue MBBS is not maintained centrally," the minister said. She was responding to a question on whether the Centre has the data of the medical students studying abroad and whether there is any eligibility test for the medical students who have studied abroad to practise in India.