NMC's new rules will harm students going abroad for medical education, claims FMAI: Report

NEW DELHI: The Foreign Medical Association of India (FMAI) expressed distress towards the new rules by the National Medical Commission (NMC) in a press conference held in Pune on Tuesday. It claimed that the new rules for students who want to pursue medical education abroad will prevent middle-class aspirants from achieving their dream of becoming doctors, reported the Hindustan Times.

“The new NMC regulations are creating roadblocks in the way of children from middle-class families becoming doctors", FMAI members reportedly claimed.

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“We are protesting and the NMC should get rid of these new rules. These rules will create difficulties. It’s a kind of conspiracy with their future,” Sudarshan Gherde, president of the FMAI reportedly said.

“The World Health Organisation (WHO) is among the world’s leading institutions for medical education abroad. The NMC should not impose such oppressive rules on world-class education.” Gherde further said.

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NMA Rules: Eligibility criteria

For obtaining a permanent doctor’s licence in India after studying abroad, the candidates have to meet the following criteria

1) The entire course should be done in the same foreign medical institution. The medical training and internship shall not be done partially in one country and the rest in another country other than the country from which the primary medical qualification is obtained.

2) The candidate should have undergone a course leading to a foreign medical degree with a minimum duration of 54 months.

3) A twelve-month internship should be completed from the same foreign university from which he or she pursued the medical degree.

4) The candidate should have received a foreign medical degree with the medium of instruction in English.

5) If the foreign university is WHO-approved, permission from MCI or NMC and the Government of India is required.

6) All mandatory subjects mentioned in schedule-1 should be studied in a foreign medical university.

7) The candidate has to undergo an additional 12-month internship after coming to India

8) All medical students studying abroad, and in India, will have to clear the National Exit Exam (NEXT) to get a licence.