Philippine Medical Act amendment bill brings hope to Indian medical students

Philippine Medical Act amendment bill brings hope to Indian medical students

As per NMC, BS and MD programs are two separate degrees and thus cannot be equated to the MBBS course in India.

Ayushi Gupta | Posted December 23, 2024 02:00 PM

The amendment bill for the Philippine Medical Act, 1959 was recently passed in the lower house – House of Representatives in the Philippines – with a majority of vote counts (184-3-0) and now awaits clearance at the upper house – Senate – mandatory for a bill to become an act. The amendment bill allows foreign nationals to practice locally under the condition of 'reciprocity' or by qualifying Physicians Licensure Examination (PLE). This has brought hope to several Indian medical students in the Philippines, as this will allow them to return to India as practicing doctors after passing the Foreign Medical Graduate Exam (FMGE). However, students will have to wait for the National Medical Commission (NMC) to respond officially to the change.

The amendment bill will be presented in the upper house in January 2025. Indian medical aspirants planning to move to the Philippines for affordable medical education are keeping their fingers crossed. This also depends on the NMC, which will make the final decision after the bill is cleared in the Congress of the Philippines.

Curriculum parity

NMC has clarified that BS and MD courses are two separate degrees in the Philippines, which cannot be equated to the MBBS course in India. Dr B Srinivas, secretary, NMC, says, "India will examine the medical curriculum and duration of the programme. We will assess whether the curriculum follows the same quality parameters as the Indian medical system. Only if there is parity in the MBBS curriculum between the two countries, the facilitation measures to enable the Foreign Medical Graduates (FMGs) to appear for FMGE will be considered.”

Stranded careers

On November 18, 2021, the NMC introduced the FMGL Regulations, 2021. The regulations outlined the requirements for FMGs seeking to practice in India. Following this, on December 8, 2021, the Embassy of India in Manila issued an advisory for Indian students studying medicine in the Philippines, which highlighted that only students who were admitted for the Doctor of Medicine (MD) course in the Philippines before November 18 , 2021, would be considered eligible for registration to practice medicine in India after passing FMGE.

In 2022, a writ petition was filed in the Delhi High Court challenging the FMGL Regulations, 2021, by a student studying in the Philippines. The petition sought an exemption for the student (petitioner) affected by the new regulations. It argued, “The petitioner is an undergraduate Bachelor of Science (BS)-MD student in the Philippines. (The BS-MD course in the Philippines is a 4.5 to 5-year program combining a BS degree with an MD degree.) After completing the BS Biology course during the academic year 2020-21, the petitioner was enrolled in the MD program at the same university. The FMGL Regulations, 2021, have adversely impacted the petitioner's career, along with those of many other Indian students admitted during the 2019-20 and 2020-21 academic years."

The advisory issued by the Embassy of India further clarified that the NMC has now formally confirmed that the bridging BS course (equivalent to pre-med in the USA) of 1.5-2 years before the MD course will not be included in calculating the total duration of the medical course.

A second-year MD student from Maharashtra studying at Emilio Aguinaldo College, Manila, Philippines says, “There are around 500 Indian students in my university alone, and some larger universities have thousands of Indian students pursuing medical courses. If Congress of the Philippines enacts this amendment into law, it will significantly benefit the students. However, the future of medical graduates in India depends on the NMC's decision—whether we will be allowed to take the FMGE/NExT exam and practice medicine in India. We sincerely hope that the NMC grants a one-time exemption for students who enrolled in BS Biology or similar pre-medical courses as a pathway to the MD program before November 18, 2021.”

The overall pass percentage of students from the Philippines appearing in FMGE has been relatively better than in other countries. In the FMGE June 2024 session, a significant number of high scorers were from medical colleges in the Philippines.

Ayyalraj Nitish Babu, a medical student from Tamil Nadu studying at Davao Medical School Foundation, Philippines says, “The medical education system of the Philippines follows the American pattern. All exams are based on multiple-choice questions (MCQs), with an average passing grade of 75%. Final grades are calculated by combining scores from lab exams, attendance, minor exams, and major exams. This approach ensures that students must study consistently throughout the semester and cannot rely solely on last-minute preparation for final exams. This rigorous system makes it particularly beneficial for students aspiring to take international exams such as the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) and the Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board (PLAB).”