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The chorus to defer various examinations in the country is growing louder. Now, the foreign medical graduates have also sought postponement or cancellation of the FMGE examination scheduled to be conducted on August 31. They are seeking licenses to be able to serve amid the COVID-19 crisis in India at the earliest.
The Foreign Medical Graduate Examination or FMGE is a licensing examination conducted by the National Board of Examinations (NBE). The examination needs to be cleared by all those Indian citizens/OCIs who have complete their primary medical qualification from an institution outside India but wishes to practice in India.
"Around 25,000 foreign medical graduates going to appear for the exam on August 31. They have only 1-2 centers per state and 45 in total, some of which never appeared on the form for center selection. There will be 2000-2500 students at major centers for FMGE exams in cities like Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Delhi, Noida," a foreign medical graduate from Russia told India TV Digital. "We are doctors from WHO-approved universities, we are not asking for cancellation but postponement," he said.
Recently, over 20,000 foreign medical graduates approached the government to allow them to work as doctors without the mandatory exam. In a letter addressed to the President, Prime Minister and the Health Minister, the All India Foreign Medical Graduates Association sought licenses to work as doctors and aid in the fight against the pandemic. "Looking at the current scenario, India may face a huge crisis of doctors to tackle the situation. When the same situation arose recently in UK and Italy, they utilised the source of final-year students to handle the situation by entering into mainstream of healthcare system of their countries, the letter read.
They emphasised that the government should grant a one-time exception to Foreign-trained MBBS and Foreign Trained Broad Specialities (MD/MS) and allow them to register with the MCI and join the fight against COVID-19 before it is too late. This one step will add around 20,000 MBBS doctors and 3000 specialists in the workforce against our fight against COVID-19, they said in the letter.
Taking to social media, foreign media graduates have been tweeting using #letfmgserve and #letfmgeserve to make their voices heard.
"India's rate of spread of coronavirus is increasing drastically, the government is still silent on the demands of FMG doctors to serve the nation in this pandemic. Let FMGS serve in this crisis, grant them registration," another FMG said.
