Foreign medical grad wing seeks lower fee for eligibility certificates

Foreign medical grad wing seeks lower fee for eligibility certificates 

TIMES NEWS NETWORK  04.09.2024 .

Chennai : The foreign graduates wing of the Tamil Nadu Medical Students Association’s foreign graduates wing has urged govt to bring down the fee collected by the state medical university for eligibility certificate – mandatory for participation in counselling for allotment to PG degree and diploma programmes.

Candidates other than those with MBBS/PG diplomas from Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University must apply for an eligibility certificate for verification of degree, completion of internship, medical registration number, proof of documents such as date of birth, community certificate, and school certificates. Those who have completed undergraduate degrees in an Indian university – central institutions such as AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Sciences), deemed universities, private universities or state-run universities – must pay ₹1,888 (including 18% GST); NRIs must pay ₹36,580. Indians with UG degrees from foreign varsities must pay ₹30,658. “This differential fee is unfair,” said Dr Senthil Kumar, who heads the students’ wing.

“Those who study abroad are mandated to clear FMGE screening licentiate exam and complete 1-yr internship before begining practice. To clear it, they must obtain an NOC from state medical university and pay₹33,500. They can apply for internship only after this. They are asked to pay a similar fee to verify the same documents while applying for PG admissions by the same university.” And, eligibility certificate is valid only for a year. “A student who doesn’t get a seat this year has to pay ₹30,658 to be eligible to apply next year.” The association has written to health secretary Supriya Sahu urging her to consider waivers for “eligibility certificates.” University officials said the certificate was introduced to weed out illegal and fake documents. 

PG med admission for 2024-25 begins 

Chennai : The state selection committee has initiated the admission process for PG degree and diploma courses in medicine and dentistry for the 2024-25 academic year. From Tuesday, applications were available on www.tnhealth.tn.gov.in and www.tnmedicalselection.net. The state surrenders 50% of seats in govt colleges to the all India quota. The committee will conduct counselling for admission to govt quota seats in state-run medical colleges. All seats in self-financing medical colleges affiliated to The Tamil Nadu Dr M G R Medical University can be accessed. The deadline for submitting filled-in applications is 5 pm on Sept 15. The committee said it will declare the dates for the release of the rank list, counselling, and the date for the commencement of courses later.