Foreign Medical Graduates will Have to Take a Screening Test Within 10 Years of Completing the Course

Foreign medical graduates will have to appear for a screening test or the National Exit Test within ten years of completing their studies, which will replace it in the future, the country’s top medical regulator said on Wednesday. At present there is no time limit for appearing in the examination held twice a year.

Students who have completed their medical studies in other countries have to pass a screening test to practice medicine in the country.

In another notification to widen the scope of people studying medicine, the National Medical Commission (NMC) has allowed students who have taken Physics, Chemistry, Biology or Biotechnology; they will also be allowed to appear for the qualifying  NEET-UG exam.

According to senior officials, as long as the board is duly recognized by the government, students will be allowed to take the exam even if they have completed these subjects from an open school. According to a notice from the top medical education regulator, the decision will also apply to students whose applications were rejected earlier.

The NMC once again relaxed its 2021 rules for three months, allowing Ukrainian students from other countries to complete their medical education. This will benefit those who joined medical courses in the country after November 2021, when the new rules on foreign medical graduates came into effect.

The entire course, training and internship must be done in the same university. The NMC notice states that the degrees in these cases will be awarded by the universities where the students attend.

The NMC issued clarifications on a number of issues on which it had received representations from foreign medical graduates, including complaints from those who could not complete their education due to the pandemic or war in Ukraine and from students from the Philippines, where the curriculum is not followed Indian standards.

In the Philippines, courses last for 48 months, not 54 months as required by the NMC. According to the regulator, students taking admission after the 2021 notification comes into effect will not be allowed to take screening tests or practice medicine in India.

The notification prescribes the duration of the course, subjects taught and the maximum number of years to complete the course. However, those taking admission before the notification will have to come back and do an internship of one year in another country to fulfill the training deficiencies. After obtaining temporary registration, they must complete another year of mandatory internship.

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