The freshly introduced ‘zero percentile’ cut-off on September 20 for the NEET-PG (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test Postgraduate) exams has been a widely discussed topic among the medical fraternity. While some people call it a much-awaited decision that would further give doctors a chance to specialise in their choice of subjects, whilst they also exhort people to not politicise the matter and take it in stride.
The Supreme Court, too, had refused to entertain a PIL (Public Interest Litigation) that was filed on September 25, stating the reason that the petitioners themselves were not associated with the exam.
But many have professed their dislike towards a crucial decision that can bring a transformation, albeit, a negative one, in the entire functioning of the medical system of the country. A standardised test in the country meant for doctors ensures that a certain level of quality is maintained but the setting of such a criteria that now would allow low-scoring candidates to pursue super-speciality courses, questions the credibility of such an exam.
Inequity and never-ending discrimination
Andrew Mathews, President of the Foreign Medical Graduates Parents Association (FMGPA) spoke to EdexLive about the changes that are being initiated within the medical domain and how the National Medical Commission (NMC) is allegedly displaying an inequitable attitude, discriminating between the IMGs (Indian Medical Graduates) and the FMGs (Foreign Medical Graduates).
“FMGs are certainly discriminated against. When it comes to the quality of doctors, the IMGs are hailed and it is deemed that the FMGs do not possess a similar education hence, are considered inferior but is this the truth?” questions Mathews. On the reduction of cut-off for the NEET-PG examination, he further adds that reducing the percentile to zero is benefitting the private medical colleges, who can now peddle the seats, in lieu of more money, thus, strongly questioning the ability of these graduates to successfully grasp the subject and the expertise required in the field.
The FMGPA President inquires, “If the NMC harks on the importance of quality education then why has the percentile been reduced?” He also claims that FMGs are dismissed due to the opinion that foreign universities are questionable, and their teaching standards are not in tandem with Indian standards.
“They (NMC) say we do not have quality but after reducing the pass percentile, how is it ensuring the quality then?” alleges an FMG student Snehal PS. He says that there are Indian students who may be intelligent and well-equipped to become doctors in the future but due to circumstantial disadvantages, and for financial ease, they might prefer studying abroad, at medical colleges that follow the rules that were set by the Medical Council of India (MCI) and adhere to the norms, yet, he adds, that their experience and knowledge is scrutinised severely when they return to their own country.
Aldrich Adonis Furtal, who completed his MBBS from China Medical University, Shenyang, China, says that people associate the credibility of the degree with the products of the country. “A weak and easy analogy that people can draw is associating our degrees with the products manufactured by the country. If it's Chinese, then it certainly must not be of good quality,” he says.
“Where is the transparency?”
According to an information bulletin released by the National Board of Examination in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) for the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE), the clause of ‘Non Disclosure Agreement’ (9.7), states that “FMGE is a proprietary examination and is conducted only by NBEMS. The contents of this exam are confidential, proprietary and are owned by NBEMS,” in addition to this, it also says that a candidate can be barred from appearing from the examination again in future, if he/she is found to be "reproducing, transmitting or publishing any contents of the examination, for whatever purpose."
The students say that such a stringent policy of not revealing previous years’ questions, sample papers or online mock tests, is unfair and can prove to be extremely daunting for the students appearing for the first time for an exam which is held biannually, tentatively in the months of June and December.
“In NEET, the answer keys are published and one can also challenge the answers but that provision is missing from the FMGE exam, making it anything but transparent,” said Mathews. With this, the students remain oblivious about their performance and if one has failed, they can never get an opportunity to learn from their mistakes, as they do not get to know where they had committed it, he claimed.
Snehal, who will be appearing for the examination, speaking on the issue further, adds that his dilemmas have no end. This is because there is no option to recheck their answer paper and he also adds that the whole module is designed in such a way that one needs to study the entire five-plus year syllabus and all of the topics without any knowledge of what will be weightage given to these innumerable topics.
Aldrich, who qualified the FMGE exam for in June 2023, says, “The questions were a lot tougher than we had expected, it was indeed a very difficult exam and the pass percentage is proof of it, plus the system of weightage has never been followed.”
The pass percentage of the recent FMGE exam conducted in 2023 is a meagre 10.2% and as per the data released by NBEMS, a total of 21,180 candidates failed and 2,474 candidates passed the exam.
Justice, not delivered. Also, what about NExT?
The President of FMGPA, Mathews questions how can is it justifiable that only ten per cent of candidates qualify for the exam. “It is almost like punishing the FMGs and where is the justice when for IMGs the percentile is reduced to zero, that means a candidate scoring negative marks qualifies for super-speciality courses, but these FMGs who have toiled hard in foreign countries are dismissed just because they chose to study outside?” he asserts.
Snehal who is currently completing his internship in China says that the pass percentage for the FMGs is 150 out of the total 300 stipulated marks, meaning a student has to score a 50% to be able to get a chance at practising medicine in India. “We would rather have NExT (National Exit Test) than this exam, where there are perceptible differences between NEET and FMGE. Such discrimination with the addition of zero percentile to NEET-PG completely discredits our stance,” he states.
According to Snehal and many others, NExT would provide them with an opportunity to prove their merit and would add convenience to the whole process. Andrew Mathews said, “It is a standardised exam and it is for each and every student. Now that it has been postponed till further orders, creates more bias against the FMGs.”
Another point that Aldrich contends is that they have to beg to get validity in the eyes of authority and are alienated. He also says that FMGs are blamed for causing a “brain-drain”, as they are now choosing to go to other countries and are, surprisingly, passing that country’s licentiate medical examination when they could not pass the FMGE.
Deepak Kumar, an MBBS student from Ternopil National University, caught in the throes of the ongoing Ukraine-Russia crisis, and has been requesting the government to allow them to transfer to other countries. He says that there is a continual streak of the government's discriminatory attitude towards the FMGs, and the recent introduction of low cut-offs has further proved this. “There is no relaxation given to us, even if a student scores 149 or 148 out of the total score, they cannot qualify the exam.”
He also says that the government’s inability to address their problems, adds to their existing crisis within the country, where their dreams of becoming doctors and serving their own country is not being realised.
