Foreign Medical Graduates (FMGs) from Rajasthan held a protest on April 12, and are planning another on April 26, regarding the increment of seats in counselling for the mandatory Compulsory Rotating Medical Internship (CRMI). The students have expressed their grievance against the availability of seats which were less (399 seats) in contrast to 1,365 students applying for the seats in the state.
The guidelines dictated by the National Medical Commission (NMC) demarcate that students who have completed their MBBS degree from foreign universities ought to appear for the FMGE (Foreign Medical Graduate Examination), following which they have to complete the CMRI to practice medicine in India. Though FMGE was held in January, students who qualified for it still await seat allotments.
As per an official NMC document shared by Dr Rakesh Gurjar, an FMG from the state, 2,545 CMRI seats are available in Rajasthan. However, when the students approached the Directorate of Medical Education (DME), the availability of these seats was denied. "It has been over three months since we are waiting for allotments. When we approached the DME, they said the NMC data was false, but when we approached the NMC, they said it was correct."
"Most of the seats from the 399 available seats also belong to private hospitals. There are almost no seats in the government ones," the student adds. "The CMRI is not a competitive exam. Everyone who qualifies should rightfully get a seat," Rakesh says further.
On April 12, about 200 students protested in front of the DME office in Jaipur over the unavailability of seats. Subsequently, they sent several representations to the concerned government authorities, including Chief Minister Ghelot and Health Minister Parsadi Lal Meena. Even Lok Sabha MPs like Sukhbir Singh Jaunapuria and Sumedhanand Saraswati; BJP head of Jaisalmer district Chandra Prakash Sharda; and Pushpendra Bharadhaj, State secretary of PCC (Pradesh Congress Committee) of Rajasthan wrote to the Rajasthan government and also Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya for intervention, but to no avail. Frustrated, the students decided on a second protest on April 26.
The FMG Association of the state has taken police permission for the same. The protest is going to be held at 10 am at Saheed Smarak in Jaipur, and about 300 students are expected to participate.
