Foreign med grads oppose 2-year limit to clear test

Foreign med grads oppose 2-year limit to clear test

Ragu.Raman@timesgroup.com

Chennai: 26.04.2021 

With the Foreign Medical Graduates Examinations (FMGEs) recording a poor pass percentage, graduates and education consultants say the proposed two year limit for clearing the screening test, mandatory for practising in India, isn’t practical.

Every year, around 3,000 students from Tamil Nadu who have completed medical degrees in foreign universities appear for the FMGE that is held twice a year. Only 19.4%ofn foreign medical graduates cleared the screening test held in December 2020.

The National Medical Council’s draft regulation 2021 for foreign medical graduates, released on its website, gives only two years to clear the test. It also proposes an additional paper in pre and para clinical subjects.

Many students say they prepare for the test only in the final year or pre-final year and that the new rule will add to the pressure. M Vignesh, a final year student at Xinjiang Medical University in China, said he could not write the test in December 2020 due to a delay in getting a provisional certificate.

“As per the proposed regulation, students get only four attempts. Foreign medical graduates usually face delays in getting certificates and will need time to prepare. If they miss one or two attempts, it will put them under enormous pressure,” he said.

Nirosha, who cleared the test in December 2020 with a score of 179 (students need to score 150 of 300 to be eligible to practise in India), said students have to prepare well in all 20 subjects. “The difficulty level varies for each test which makes it difficult to clear in one or two attempts.”

Education consultants said admissions in foreign universities will be affected. “The proposed regulations are against students,” said C Ravichandran, managing director, Study Abroad Educational Consultants.

“They [students] go out of the country only because they fail to get a seat here. They travel abroad at a very young age and return to serve people in their country. The new regulations will discourage them from going abroad,” he said, criticising the move to introduce an additional paper. A Mahendran, managing director of Foreign Students Study Centre in Trichy, said it was unfair to fix a two-year limit.