SC asks for Centre reply on plea over foreign medical graduates

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear a plea against notices mandating foreign medical graduates to spend extra years of internship to compensate for the missed practical classes due to the Covid-19 pandemic or the Russia-Ukraine war. A bench of Justices B R Gavai and Augustine George Masih issued notice to the Centre and others seeking their responses on the plea within six weeks.

The plea filed by Association of Doctors And Medical Students sought a direction to the authorities concerned to formulate a better scheme or guidelines for compensatory internship or practical training for foreign medical graduates whose course was interrupted by the pandemic or the Russia-Ukraine war. Senior advocate P V Dinesh appeared for the petitioner. The plea, filed through advocate Zulfiker Ali PS, said the petitioner is a registered association of foreign medical graduates.

The petitioner's counsel said the issue was only restricted to those who on account of Russia-Ukraine war or pandemic had returned to India but again went back to Ukraine or China to complete their education and have already completed their internship. The plea said the students, after completing their education in foreign institutions, have the option of practising medicines abroad or returning to India where they can start their practice after clearing the screening test Foreign Medical Graduate Examination ( FMGE ) conducted by the National Board of Examinations.

Impact of pandemic on internships

The students before the court had completed their course through online classes supplemented with offline practical and clinical training. "The cumulative effect of the above described public notices and circulars is that those FMGs, who had to return to India owing to pandemic or war during their last year and completed their course through online mode have to undergo two years of internship in India and those FMGs, who returned during their penultimate year of course, have to undergo three years of internship to become eligible to practice medicine in India," the plea said.

It also sought a direction to the National Medical Commission ( NMC ) to instruct all state medical councils to identify deficiencies or missed practical classes of FMGs due to pandemic or war. The plea said such FMGs should be allowed to compensate those missed practical classes either with completion certificate from their parent institution or with compensatory practical classes in Indian institution.

It also referred to the April 29, 2022 apex court verdict in which the top court came to the rescue of MBBS students of foreign universities who faced difficulties due to the Ukraine crisis and Covid-19 pandemic. The top court then directed the NMC to frame a scheme in two months to allow students to complete clinical training in medical colleges here.