Eight months on, foreign MBBS graduates await internship in Himachal

Tribune News Service

Lalit Mohan

Dharamsala, April 24

MBBS graduates who have done degrees from foreign countries and have cleared Foreign Medical Graduate Entrance (FMGE) test conducted by the Medical Council of India, a degree validity test in India, are waiting for internship in the state for the past more than eight months.

The students alleged that they have passed the FMGE test in June 2023. Since then, we are struggling to secure mandatory internship seats in Himachal, the affected students alleged. They said another batch of foreign MBBS students has passed the FMGE test in January 2024 and were also facing the same issue.

While other states allocated seats to their own domicile doctors in September and October 2023, the Himachal Pradesh Medical Council hasn’t even started the process of allotting internship to FMGE passed out students, said Yatin, a medical graduate.

He alleged that there were 50 FMGE passed out graduates in Himachal who have been waiting for internship for the past eight months now. This delay is causing immense worry for these doctors. Their future was at stake, as without completing their internship, they can’t work privately or even qualify for PG/MD entrance exams. It’s the government’s responsibility to ensure internship opportunities for FMGE pass outs.

Many other states are restricting internships to their own residents only, leaving Himachal Pradesh’s doctors in a difficult spot. It is unfair to penalise them for pursuing their MBBS degrees or being residents of Himachal, Yatin added.

They said in case the government failed to provide solution to their problem within the next two days, they will initiate a protest.

Dr Ramesh Bharti, former Director Medical Research and Education and Principal of Hamirpur Medical college said earlier FMGE candidates were selected at medical college level. However, now the process of their selection has been centralised and now Atal Medical University would be conducting their selection. The advertisement for the selection was likely to be out very soon, he said.

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