Foreign medical aspirants number surge by 80%, reveals RTI

NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 17: There has been close to 80 per cent rise in the number of students aspiring to pursue medical education abroad. As per an RTI data, the number of applications received for eligibility certificate rose to 18,383 in 2017-18 from 10,555 in 2016-17.

The Medical Council of India (MCI) has made it mandatory for candidates to qualify the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) seeking to pursue MBBS courses from foreign medical institutions.

As per the RTI reply, MCI issued a total of 8,737 eligibility certificated in the year 2016- 2017 while 14,118 eligibility certificates were issued in 2017-18. The number of eligibility certificates issued also includes pending of the previous years, suggested the RTI reply.

The UK, Australia, France, Germany, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore, USA are the top ten countries to study medicine.

“Information provided in the RTI speaks volume on the shift in medical education trends. The key reason for this is the lack of medical seats in India. There is a total of approx. 60,000 medical seats that is being offered by both Government and private colleges for medical aspirants who are in millions. Apart from this, higher awareness levels of the overseas colleges, more affordable fees compared to Indian private colleges, curriculum aligned to international standards, better global growth opportunities etc are other reasons why students prefer to study MBBS abroad,” said Saju Bhaskar, President, Texila American University.