Foreign medical graduates still a discriminated lot

At a time when there is much apprehension over the plight and prospects of foreign medical graduates in the country, those in Kerala had much to cheer, when last Friday, the Kerala High Court directed the Government Medical College, Ernakulam, to remove a clause in one of its notifications, which effectively denied them employment opportunities.

Association of MD Physicians (AMD), an organisation representing foreign medical graduates, approached the Kerala High Court, after a notification issued by the Ernakulam college, on February 28, announcing a walk-in-interview for the recruitment of junior residents, specified that the opportunity was “limited to Indian nationals graduated from Indian Universities”.

The norms

“According to the notification, the only qualification for applying for the post of junior resident was an MBBS degree with registration in TCMC, the State Medical Council. There are so many foreign graduates in Kerala who have cleared the qualifying examination in India and are registered under the TCMC. There was no justification for denying them this employment opportunity,” a member of the AMD told The Hindu.

“Once a person has secured registration from the State Medical Council to practice medicine, why should he be discriminated against, just because he is a foreign graduate? That this discriminatory attitude came from a government institution was appalling,” he said.

The Kerala HC, which took cognisance of the petition filed by foreign graduates, orally directed the MCH not to take any decision on the walk-in-interview conducted on March 4.

The MCH, on March 4, was forced to issue another notification, which said that the walk-in-interview will be continued on March 8 and that the earlier clause that only Indian nationals from Indian Universities can apply, was no longer applicable.

For hundreds of foreign graduates who return home after completing six years’ study, clearing the mandatory Foreign Medical Graduates’ Exam conducted by the National Board of Examinations is only the first hurdle in fulfilling their desire to work in their home State.

Screening exam

After clearing the screening exam, the TCMC issues a provisional registration. The graduates then have to undergo one year’s compulsory internships in a General Hospital in Kerala (rules differ in other States) only after which are they given permanent registration by the TCMC.

“Getting the permanent registration took over 10 months and there were a lot of hassles that I went through because the council insisted that I get my medical school to declare that the MD degree is equivalent to the MBBS here. This was not easy. For the provisional and permanent registration too, we have to pay a heavy fee to the TCMC, unlike the home-grown students,” a foreign graduate who completed her course from Russia in 2015, said.

“We are forced to go abroad only because we cannot afford the hefty fee charged by the private medical colleges here. It is true that not all medical schools abroad are good but is that not applicable to medical schools within the country also? Yet, even those of us who completed our studies from good universities abroad are looked down upon by the authorities and the fraternity even after we clear the screening exam. The derogatory tag “Russia-China docs” seems to follow us everywhere, which is unfair,” she added.

She has been working in Kerala since 2017. “I studied in one of the top medical schools in Russia and never during my work here have I felt that my basic course left me wanting. FMGE, however, is tough and the students need to prepare well. If the National Medical Commission goes ahead with the proposed national exit exam, for all final MBBS students, including foreign graduate, it will be a great leveller,” she said.