NMC has not approved transfer of returning foreign medical students in Indian institutes: Govt

New Delhi: No permission has been given by the National Medical Commission (NMC) to transfer or accommodate any foreign medical students in any Indian medical institute or university, the Centre told Lok Sabha Friday.

Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar made the statement in a written reply to a question on whether the NMC has not approved the decision of states to allow admission in their medical colleges to Indian medical students returning from war-torn Ukraine.

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There are no such provisions in the Indian Medical Council Act 1956 and the National Medical Commission Act, 2019 as well as the regulations to accommodate or transfer medical students from any foreign medical institutes to medical colleges in India, Pawar said.

Foreign medical students/graduates are either covered under Screening Test Regulations, 2002 or 'Foreign Medical Graduate Licentiate Regulations (FMCG), 2021, as the case may be, she said.

"Therefore, no permission has been given by the NMC to transfer or accommodate any foreign medical students in any Indian medical institute/university," Pawar said.

On whether the West Bengal government has accommodated more than 400 Indian medical students returning from Ukraine, in various medical colleges of the state to enable them pursue their medical education, Pawar said "as informed by NMC, the regulatory body of medical education in the country, no such information is available with them".

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According to official sources, about 40,000 students studying medicine in Ukraine and China have returned due to the war and the coronavirus pandemic. The Supreme Court had on April 29 directed the regulatory body to frame a scheme in two months to enable MBBS students affected by the war and the pandemic to complete their clinical training in medical colleges India.

Through a circular issued in March, the NMC had allowed returning foreign medical to complete their remaining part of internship in India subject to the condition that they must have cleared FMGE (Screening Test), which is mandatory for Indian students with foreign medical qualification to practice medicine in India. This relief was for students who could not complete their internship due to situations beyond their control such as war, Covid etc.