Here comes a ray of hope for the Foreign Medical Graduates (FMGs) in Rajasthan state as the Rajasthan Medical Council (RMC) announced the dates for the FMGs counselling on November 18.
The FMGs in the state have felt ignored for months despite clearing the Foreign Medical Graduates Exam (FMGE) in July this year. The FMGE June 2024 Session conducted by the National Board of Education (NBE) was held on July 6, 2024.
FMGE is compulsory for Indian citizens who travel abroad to pursue MBBS and return to their homeland for practice.
Since their return, the FMGs in Rajasthan state have been waiting for the counselling and internship process to begin. Several FMGs, represented by All Rajasthan MBBS Doctors Association (ARMDA) Chairman Dr Vinod Sharma Bagda, wrote a letter to the state Department of Medical Education (DME) on November 18.
The demands of the medicos are:
1. Allocation of internships in a single counselling process in both teaching and non-teaching hospitals at the earliest
2. Granting permanent registration within a month of internship completion
3. Acceptance of compensation letters by the council
4. Equitable distribution of stipend to all students irrespective of merit-based distinctions
With these demands, the Rajasthan FMGs have urged officials for prompt action to avoid delays in the academic year.
Speaking to EdexLive, Bagda said, "We placed our demands before DME's Joint Secretary Dr Iqbal Khan; Deputy Director Dr Manisha Malik; and cabinet minister/officer on special duty (OSD) of the medical ministry Shriman Gajendra Singh. After deliberations between the DME and Health Ministry, both DME and RMC have accepted our demands and issued notices."
RMC notice
According to RMC's notice dated November 18, which EdexLive has access too, the dates for the internship counselling process are:
November 25 to 29: Date of application
November 30: Loan correction date
December 6: Internship seat allotment
December 12: Date of Internship
Moreover, another notice about the instructions and directions for online counselling of FMGs was issued on the same date.
To note, FMGs were anticipating and awaiting the internship counselling for months. Badga alleges that while other states' medicos have begun their internships, the FMGs in Rajasthan were given the cold shoulder for months. "This creates anxiety and stress among thousands of FMGs as academic sessions will be delayed," he added.
The delay from the council was also pointed out by another association, the All FMGs Association (AFA) on X (formerly Twitter). On November 12, the association's tweet read, "Why is #Rajasthan medical council so messed up? They've pulled off some shady stuff and now they're dragging their feet on FMGs' internship counseling. It's been a whole #five months since the FMGE but internship notice is not yet published. We've encountered this issue repeatedly and unfortunately, it persists. Despite the arrival of a new registrar, the situation remains unchanged. We humbly request the higher authorities to take notice and help us in this regard."
FMG issues are not new in the state. Rajasthan FMGs have been frequently in the news for raising issues like delay in internships, non-payment of stipends and more. Recently, on August 5, FMGs in Rajasthan staged a protest at the state’s Directorate of Medical Education (DME) office in Jaipur against non-payment of stipends to intern doctors.
To conclude, Bagda said, "We were assured that the counselling would begin according to the schedule. Failing which, we would be left with no choice but to launch a protest."
