State Medical Councils shall not deny allotment of medical colleges for internships to foreign medical graduates (FMG) on the basis of their domicile, and FMGs can complete their internship from a medical college in any State or Union Territory if they are otherwise eligible, the National Medical Commission (NMC) said. The NMC has released a list of recognised non-teaching hospitals for compulsory rotating internship training across the country.
The regulatory body for medical education and medical professionals has also issued a consolidated circular of its guidelines on the mode and method of medical internships for FMGs in India. The NMC noted that an FMG may be posted to different medical colleges or institutions through the counselling or seat allocation process based on merit.
It added that a number of requests and queries from different State Medical Councils had been received on the non-availability of seats for FMGs to begin their internships at their State, especially because of the implementation of two years’ internship for them.
“It has been decided by Under-Graduate Medical Education Board to validate the list of recognised non-teaching hospitals for compulsory rotating medical internship issued by the erstwhile Medical Council of India, for a period of one year up to May 2024 for conducting of internship for FMG only. This relaxation is granted only as a one-time measure. The allotment of FMGs in these non-teaching hospitals shall also be done only through concerned State Medical Council,” the NMC said.
It has also clarified that that the provision of two years’ internship (the notice was issued in 2022) is applicable only to FMGs in the last year of their study, who had returned to India due to the COVID-19 pandemic or the Russia-Ukraine conflict, etc. After successful completion of their medical qualification, such FMGs are required to qualify in the FMG examination and subsequently undergo the compulsory rotating medical internship for a period of two years (with a schedule of 12 months to be repeated) in the hospital attached to their medical college.
The commission has additionally noted that it does not approve or validate the medical qualification (both theoretical and practical) through online mode only. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, online classes conducted by medical colleges and institutions in India were considered valid, and to be supplemented by practical and clinical training in accordance with the current curriculum in all MBBS subjects. “Online study of medical qualification (theory along with practical) is not valid mode of study,’‘ the NMC said.
