PMK youthwing leader and Rajya Sabha MP Anbumani Ramadoss on Saturday wrote to Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, to decrease the pass percentage in the Foreign Medical Graduates Examination (FMGE), conducted by the National Board of Examinations, to 30%.
In a letter to the Union Minister, Mr. Anbumani said there was a need to address the issue, that has made the future of thousands of Indian students studying medicine in various foreign countries, a big question mark.
“Large numbers of students from our country are studying undergraduate medical courses (equivalent of MBBS) in Russia, U.S., Philippines, Kirgizstan, Ukraine, China, Germany and other countries. Around 52,000 students from India are studying in these countries. Every year around 9,000 to 10,000 students go abroad to join medical education. After returning to India, all, except those who have studied in the U.S., United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, have to pass the FMGE to make them eligible to register with the various State Medical Councils or the Medical Council of India (MCI),” pointed out Mr. Anbumani.
He said that FMGE exam is being ‘deliberately made difficult and nearly impossible to pass’. “The pass percentage in these examinations is around 16% and a staggering 84% of students fail in these examinations. Mathematically, when the pass percentage is more than 50%, over the years, the backlog will decrease. When pass percentage is 16%, about 84% of students rewrite the examinations and the backlog will increase to unmanageable numbers over the years,” he said.
“The reason for this high failure rates are the very difficult question papers. These graduates who have studied in foreign medical colleges that have good infrastructure are not able to get 50% marks [150 marks out of 300 marks] because the question paper is set in such high standard, much above the ones set for local graduates in their qualifying examinations. There is a demand that the eligibility marks should be reduced to 30%,” he said adding that there has been a representation from foreign medical graduates and Health Minister of Manipur making similar requests.
Mr. Anbumani said that it was important to increase the number of medical personnel in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, which may continue to exist, according to WHO, for a few more years. “Increasing seats in various Indian medical colleges and training more graduates will take several years. Permitting these fully qualified doctors who have graduated in foreign countries to register with the MCI and State Medical Councils and practice in India is a simple, available and a practical alternative. This is the logic behind the Ministry reducing the eligibility marks for admission to undergraduate medical courses under NEET as recommended by the Medical Council of India,” said Mr. Anbumani.
