NMC allows Ukraine returnees to complete MBBS internship in India

New Delhi/Faridkot, March 4

Ukraine-returned Indian MBBS students who may not have been able to complete their mandatory 12-month internship due to the ongoing strife will be allowed to complete the remaining internship in India provided they have cleared the foreign medical graduate exam (FMGE) before applying for such internship here.

In a circular entitled “Guidelines for registration of Foreign Medical Graduates”, the National Medical Commission (NMC) today extended to war-affected students the relief it had granted on November 18, 2021, to Indian MBBS students returning from abroad due to Covid.

Absorb them in Indian colleges: IMA to PM

• The IMA has urged the Centre to absorb Ukraine-returned Indian medical students in local colleges as an exceptional step
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Relief due to Compelling situation

Medical graduates with incomplete internship due to compelling situations… their application to complete the remaining internship in India is considered eligible. —NMC circular

The new circular adds the term “war” alongside “Covid” while describing compelling circumstances requiring the exemption.

It says, “It has been observed that there are also some foreign medical graduates with incomplete internship due to such compelling situations, which are beyond their control such as the pandemic Covid and war, etc. Considering the agony and stress faced by these graduates, their application to complete the remaining part of internship in India is considered eligible. The same may be processed by state medical councils provided the candidates have cleared the FMGE before applying for completion of internship in India,” the NMC circular issued today said. The NMC’s parent notification governing the Foreign Medical Graduates, however, requires migrating students to complete an MBBS course and internship abroad from the same college.

It says, “No foreign medical graduate shall be granted permanent registration in India unless he has undergone a course leading to a foreign medical degree with a minimum duration of 54 months; undergone an internship for minimum 12 months in the same foreign medical institution.”