yeserday 03.08.2025r

 

Amid viral CHED notice, govt urges students to verify medical education norms in Philippines

Amid viral CHED notice, govt urges students to verify medical education norms in Philippines 

Ayushi.Gupta1@timesofindia.com  04.08.2025

Following the recent notification floating on the internet, claiming to be from the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) of the Philippines, which stated that its Doctor of Medicine (MD) programme complies with the eligibility criteria outlined by National Medical Commission (NMC) in India, under the Foreign Medical Graduate Licentiate (FMGL) Regulations, 2021, there has been a noticeable interest among aspiring students. The health ministry has warned the students to be watchful of the official notice before enrolling in medical colleges in the Philippines. The ministry noticed that academic consultants are promoting the Philippines as an NMC-recognised destination to pursue medical studies, many of them refraining from giving complete information and offering false assurances regarding eligibility for the FMGE or NExT exams in India. However, it is important to note that due to existing provisions under the Philippine Medical Act of 1959, the validity of CHED’s notice dated July 15, 2025, remains uncertain and does not give clarity on its eligibility in India. 

Speaking to Education Times on the condition of anonymity, an official from the Union health ministry says, “Any student who completes their medical graduation from a country that fully complies with the FMGL Regulations, 2021, will automatically be eligible to appear for the Indian medical licensing exam. There is no need for the NMC to issue a separate notification in such cases. However, students are strongly advised to carefully review the regulatory requirements before choosing to study Medicine abroad.” A notice dated July 15, 2025, came to light after a law firm, Sarmiento Delson and Dacanay Law Offices, located in Quezon City of Philippines, requested to issue a statement confirming that CHED accredited medical schools are compliant with the Indian regulations. However, no such notice is found on the official CHED website.

A second-year MD student from Amravati, Maharashtra, studying at Emilio Aguinaldo College, Manila, Philippines, says, “There are over 500 Indian students in my university alone, and some larger universities have thousands of Indian students pursuing medical courses. After the FMGL Regulations 2021, NMC closed the doors on us to return to India as practicing doctors. The only hope to make this degree useful is by clearing the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) or the Australian Medical Council exam (AMC). Considering the limited job opportunities in the UK, I am not opting for it. Even staying in the Philippines is not an option for Indians due to the ‘reciprocity’ provision under the Philippine Medical Act of 1959.” 

Under the reciprocity provision of the Philippine Medical Act of 1959, a foreigner may be allowed to practice medicine in the Philippines without passing the Physicians Licensure Examination (PLE) if the foreigner’s home country grants citizens of the Philippines the same privilege under similar conditions. The notice available online states, “All holders of an MD degree from the Philippines, regardless of nationality or citizenship, may obtain a valid license to practice in countries such as the USA, UK, Canada, Switzerland, Australia, and others, without needing to appear for the PLE in the Philippines, subject to passing appropriate examinations and meeting other requirements in those respective countries.”

No passports, no study abroad: China limits public staff’s travel

No passports, no study abroad: China limits public staff’s travel 

Govt Employees Like Elementary Schoolteachers, Doctors Told To Hand In Passports To Strengthen ‘Disciplinary Awareness’ 

Vivian Wang. 04.08.2025

Beijing : When Tina Liu was hired to teach literature in a public elementary school in southern China, her contract included the usual warnings about absenteeism and job performance. Then came another line: Travelling abroad without the school’s permission could get her fired. The rule was reinforced in a staff group chat. “According to regulations from higherups, teachers need to strengthen their disciplinary awareness,” the message said. “We will currently not permit any overseas vacations.” Across China, similar warnings are spreading as authorities tighten control over state employees’ contacts with foreigners. Some kindergarten teachers, doctors and even govt contractors and employees of state-owned enterprises have been ordered to hand in their passports. Some cities make retirees wait two years to reclaim their passports. In many cities, travel overseas by public employees, even for personal reasons, requires approval. Business trips abroad for “ordinary research, exchange and study” have been banned. And in most provinces, those who have studied abroad are now disqualified from certain positions. Officials cite various reasons, including protecting national security, fighting corruption and cutting costs. But the scope of the restrictions has expanded rapidly, sweeping up employees who say they have no access to sensitive information or govt funds. The New York Times spoke to seven public employees, including an elementary school music teacher, a nurse and a literature professor, who confirmed the restrictions. The rules are part of a push by the central authorities to impose greater so-called political discipline and ideological loyalty on govt workers. Two of the people the NYT spoke to said they were also ordered to disclose their personal social media accounts to their employers. Another person said she had to notify her employer if she left the city where she worked. Some local govts have banned civil servants from eating out in groups of more than three, measures that came after several reports of excessive drinking at official banquets. But authorities are especially vigilant about overseas contact. The Chinese govt has long been wary of the threat of espionage and what it sees as hostile foreign forces seeking to sow discontent. The curbs are also creeping into hiring. For new graduates hoping to join China’s civil service, some of the most coveted positions are in the programme known as “xuandiaosheng,” which loosely translates as “selected students.” Each province determines which schools it will recruit from, and many, including Guangdong in the south, used to include overseas universities. This year, Guangdong listed only Chinese universities. Liaoning province went even further. Anyone who had lived overseas for more than six months, and whose “experience and political performance abroad” were hard to probe, was deemed ineligible. Police departments have imposed similar rules. NYT

Govt says NMC rules allow complaints against doctors

Govt says NMC rules allow complaints against doctors 

But Committee Cites Act To Reject All Patient Appeal Cases

Rema.Nagarajan@timesofindia.com  04.08.2025

Responding to a Parliament question on whether the National Medical Commission (NMC) was biased towards doctors, the health ministry has stated that the ethics regulation of 2002 provided for complaints against doctors. However, NMC’s ethics section has been rejecting all patient appeals, claiming the NMC Act prevails over the 2002 ethics regulation. 

The NMC Act states that doctors can file appeals against state medical council decisions. Referring to this, the ethics section has been dismissing all appeals filed by patients, claiming only doctors can file appeal, even though it is against the law. The NMC Act itself clearly states that “the rules and regulations made under the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956, shall continue to be in force and operate till new standards or requirements are specified under this Act or the rules and regulations made thereunder.” Since the Indian Medical Council Regulations, 2002, has not been replaced, it still stands. Clause 8.8 of the 2002 ethics regulation states, “Any person aggrieved by the decision of the State Medical Council on any complaint against a delinquent physician, shall have the right to file an appeal to the MCI within a period of 60 days from the date of receipt of the order passed by the said Medical Council.” 

Yet, over 162 appeals of patients have been rejected by the NMC. Union minister of state for health Anupriya Patel stated that “to ensure that the NMC functions in a transparent and fair manner”, the central govt appoints the chairperson and presidents of four autonomous boards as per the NMC Act, 2019. However, there is no transparency as even the minutes of meetings of the NMC and its autonomous boards are not available in the public domain, as used to be the case with the erstwhile Medical Council of India. Moreover, all autonomous boards, including the presidents posts are currently almost entirely vacant. 

The few minutes of the commission’s meetings accessed using RTI show that most nondoctor ex-officio members hardly ever attend meetings and, hence, most decisions are taken by commission members, almost most of whom are doctors. “I have complained to the health ministry and the law ministry by registered post about NMC rejecting patient appeals and hence I have proof. So, the health ministry cannot claim to have not received any complaints,” said Gokul Aneja, husband of a victim of alleged medical negligence, who appealed against the decision of the Punjab state medical council, only to have his appeal rejected twice.

Iruvar: The rise of EPS and fall of OPS

Iruvar: The rise of EPS and fall of OPS

STORYBOARD

ARUN RAM. 04.08.2025

The journeys of Edappadi Karuppa Palaniswami and Ottakarathevar Panneerselvam are similar in many ways. Both were born in the early 1950s (EPS is 71, OPS 74) into agricultural families; both are graduates; both entered politics with AIADMK in the early 1970s (EPS in 1974 and OPS in 1973); and both have been chief ministers (EPS once, from Feb 2017 to May 2021; OPS thrice, from Sep 2001 to March 2002, Sep 2014 to May 2015, and Dec 2016 to Feb 2017). 

And now, EPS is at the helm of the main opposition party; OPS is languishing in the middle of nowhere. So, what led them to these diverse destinies? Luck plays an important part in politics, but then, fortune favours the brave who are also clever. EPS was first elected to the Tamil Nadu assembly from Edappadi in 1989 (he won five assembly polls and lost thrice) and became an MP for the first time in 1998. He became the party’s propaganda secretary – a post once held by J Jayalalithaa – in 2007. 

OPS made his assembly debut in 2001 (12 years after EPS did), went on to win four more consecutive assembly polls. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, he lost in Ramanathapuram as an NDA independent candidate. While the track records of the two men in AIADMK have been similar (but for that OPS sided with Janaki Ramachandran after MGR’s death in 1987, while EPS supported the Jayalalithaa faction), when it came to grabbing opportunities and working on them, EPS proved himself to be much smarter than OPS. The first two times OPS became chief minister was as a night watchman, till Jayalalithaa could free herself from the legal tangles and return. As a puppet CM, he could do precious little to assert himself as Amma held the strings.

But the third time was different. It did not come as a surprise when OPS, who was holding the portfolios of Jayalalithaa during her stay in the hospital, was sworn in chief minister on Dec 6, 2016, the day after Jayalalithaa’s death. Poes Garden insiders know the ‘strong arm’ tactics of V K Sasikala, but this was OPS’s best opportunity to put his foot down. He didn’t. On a dark night, hardly two months later, he sat at the Jayalalithaa samadhi in meditation. Having resigned as CM, he called it a ‘dharmayudham’, the silent battle of a righteous man, wronged. OPS had just made his gravest mistake in politics. He got some unexpected support when Sasikala appeared set to take the throne at Fort St George. Had he leveraged this groundswell without resigning, AIADMK’s political history would have been different. 

A few days later, the Supreme Court upheld the conviction of Sasikala in the disproportionate wealth case, and sentenced her to four years in prison, thereby disqualifying her to hold a constitutional post. OPS’s revolt came as a stroke of luck for EPS, who saw the CM post tossed towards him. And how he grabbed it with both hands! He also captained the AIADMK ship through the choppy waters of factionalism under the thunder cloud of corruption. His brief to the ministers was clear: If you remove me from the helm, we all sink together; make the most of it till it lasts. The fear of loss worked. 

After losing power in 2021, EPS’s challenges grew within the party, but he systematically disarmed OPS, first by removing him as the coordinator and then from the party. Also to the credit of EPS, a gounder, is keeping such influential thevars like Natham Viswanathan and S P Velumani from switching to the side of OPS, a thevar. Having quit NDA and looking for friends among foes, OPS is at the ebb of his political career. 

DMK may have some utility of OPS as a few thousands of thevar votes in the southern districts can be decisive in close fights, and Stalin could leave much of EPS-baiting to him while focusing on his govt’s achievements. Vijay’s TVK is yet to respond to OPS’s feeler. His re-entering NDA cannot be ruled out, but now the dharmayodha’s quiver is empty.

Pay-cut: Non-teaching staff of Madras University call off stir

Pay-cut: Non-teaching staff of Madras University call off stir 

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

04.08.2025

Chennai : Non-teaching staff of Madras University will convene a meeting on Monday to discuss their future course of action regarding the proposal to cut their salaries. This decision follows the employee associations calling off their protest late on Saturday, the day the syndicate meeting, where the pay cut agenda was scheduled to be discussed, was postponed. 

“Since the syndicate meeting has been moved to next week, we have decided to call off our strike. The Monday meeting will primarily involve discussions between employee associations to ensure that this pay cut agenda is not brought up in the syndicate meeting ever again," said Balakrishnan, president of the Madras University staff association. 

According to the employees, who were on a sit-in protest outside the PRO office on the Madras University Campus, the proposed pay cut would reduce the salaries of employees such as attenders, senior attenders, section officers, assistant and deputy registrars by ₹10,000 to ₹30,000 on average. Their current salary ranges from ₹40,000 to ₹1,30,000 a month. 

“At one point in time, prior to 1989, we received salaries on a par with RBI employees. But on the recommendations of Dr Venugopal and Dr Arumugam committees, our salary structure was revised and fixed on a par with those in the Secretariat,” Balakrishnan pointed out. 

A retired assistant registrar of the varsity lamented, “The govt cannot cite fund shortage to cut down the pay of university workers while maintaining the status quo for those at the Secretariat. Moreover, when the next pay revision is scheduled for 2026, why is the govt bent on moving this agenda in the syndicate all of a sudden? The employees, therefore, are well within their right to protest.”

AI Express passenger inadvertently flies to Bhubaneswar; airline probes

AI Express passenger inadvertently flies to Bhubaneswar; airline probes

A source in the know on Thursday said the male passenger took the flight from Srinagar to Delhi and instead of getting down in the national capital, the person was onboard the flight to Bhubaneswar.

PTI Last Updated : 31 July 2025, 15:53 

New Delhi: An Air India Express passenger, who was to get down at Delhi airport, inadvertently continued his journey in the same aircraft to Bhubaneswar on Wednesday, and the airline said it is investigating the matter to address any lapses.

A source in the know on Thursday said the male passenger took the flight from Srinagar to Delhi and instead of getting down in the national capital, the person was onboard the flight to Bhubaneswar.

Both services were operated by the same aircraft. The matter came to light after the person informed the crew, the source added.

Specific details about the passenger and the aircraft could not be immediately ascertained.

In a statement on Thursday, the airline said that on July 30, a passenger transiting through Delhi on another flight inadvertently continued on the aircraft onward to Bhubaneswar.

"An internal investigation is being conducted to identify and address any lapses, while reiterating SOPs and internal briefings across stations to prevent recurrence," it said.

Generally, airline staff check the boarding passes and baggage of passengers in connecting flights at the particular transit airports as part of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).