Foreign Medical Graduates (FMGs) in Delhi are facing a deeply distressing situation.
Caught in a bureaucratic deadlock between the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), Delhi Medical Council (DMC), and court-mandated stipend requirements, these medical graduates are unable to complete their Compulsory Rotating Medical Internship (CRMI), a mandatory step to be eligible for medical practice in India.
At the heart of the issue is the non-allotment of Preventive and Social Medicine (PSM) postings, an essential three-month component of the 12-month internship mandated by the National Medical Commission (NMC). Without this, FMGs are unable to complete their training or sit for NEET PG exams, derailing their careers.
Dr Ashwini Dalmiya: “FMGs are stuck in a cruel loop”
Speaking with EdexLive, Dr Ashwini Dalmiya, an executive member of the Delhi Medical Council and a prominent voice in medical advocacy, described the FMG crisis as “very bad,” emphasising that these students are stuck because PSM postings assigned by MCD are simply not being provided. He traced the origins of the issue back to a Supreme Court case where FMGs demanded stipends for their internship.
In response, MCD claimed it lacked the budget to offer stipends and has since stalled the allotment process altogether.
He noted that earlier, despite the lack of stipends, FMGs were willing to work without pay simply to save time and complete their internships. However, after the court observations mandating stipends, MCD stopped providing PSM postings altogether: neither are they receiving stipends nor are they allowed to intern without them.
“These students have already spent lakhs on medical education abroad,” Dr Dalmiya added. “They were compromising on stipends for the sake of time, but now they’re getting neither. The Supreme Court, NMC, and MCD must come together to find a pragmatic solution.”
Go to your parent college for a stipend?
Speaking on behalf of the All FMG Association, Media Coordinator, Dr Kaushal revealed that MCD is not only refusing PSM postings but is also delaying the process indefinitely. Allegedly, FMGs are being told, "If you want a stipend, get it from your parent college where the internship was going on earlier, then come back to us."
Many of these FMGs passed out in January 2024, and ideally, their internships should end by January 2025. But due to constant administrative delays, they are facing a five to six-month setback. Despite repeated requests, MCD has not resumed the postings, citing the Supreme Court directive that stipend is mandatory.
FMG voices: “We gave undertakings to forego stipends. Still, they won’t let us work”
A group of FMGs who have already completed 9.5 months of internship at non-teaching hospitals shared their harrowing journey. One of them detailed:
Non-teaching hospitals were not giving seats at first, even after NMC approval, due to the stipend issue. Eventually, they accepted students without stipends because time was running out.
The students completed most of their internships unpaid, prioritising time over money.
When they approached DMC for their final PSM postings, they were assured it would be handled closer to the end of their internship.
However, in March 2025, just before completion, they were told that only 50 PSM seats were available, of which 20 had already been filled.
Despite applying earlier, they were denied spots in favour of students whose internships had ended a few days earlier.
Around 60 FMGs were left with no PSM allotment.
They went to DMC, MCD offices, even Najafgarh PHCs, searching for options, only to be told there was no one in authority to represent them.
“There’s no Registrar in DMC currently. No one is coordinating. We are running around like headless chickens,” the FMG added.
The recent Supreme Court notice that stopped everything
In desperation, students even submitted written undertakings to DMC, requesting to forgo stipends for their PSM rotation like they did for the earlier part of their internships in the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital. MCD initially agreed, took their documents, and seemed ready to begin the postings.
But everything changed after a new Supreme Court notice, which warned that institutions engaging FMGs without paying stipends would face a Rs 50,000 fine.
After that, MCD allegedly refused to proceed, stating, “This is illegal now. We can’t go against the Supreme Court.”
“Implement both: stipend and hospitals not just one”
The FMG, who has been leading the appeal, pointed out a key contradiction in the current system: “They are implementing the stipend rule. Fine. But they should also implement the rule for hospitals to take us in. It cannot be a one-way street.”
“Right now, only the stipend part is being enforced — not the obligation for hospitals to actually take us. This same situation will repeat this year again if no one takes responsibility. The court said that we should be given stipends, not that we should be abandoned,” they said.
Highlighting the imbalance in implementation, while courts enforce financial rights, institutions are shirking their duty to ensure internship opportunities, making the law a weapon of exclusion instead of support, FMGs say.
"No one is helping us – not DMC, not Health Ministry, not the court"
With no Registrar at DMC, no clear leadership, and a hearing in the Supreme Court postponed from April 8 to April 26, students say their entire year is at stake.
Many had taken up non-teaching postings, worked hard, and studied simultaneously for NEET PG, expecting to qualify. But without the PSM completion, they may be ineligible for PG counselling.
“We went to the Health Ministry, gave them applications. No appointment. No response. DMC told us, ‘Go to court.’ But how can 60 students get a court order? And if we do, it may harm FMGs in other states too, as getting stipends is a good, but denying the internship itself? That’s jeopardising everyone else’s condition ”
They also discovered that many PHC centers in Delhi (Dwarka, Najafgarh, and so on) could accommodate them, but those centers refuse to accept FMGs without instructions from a higher authority.
“Time is more valuable than money. We’ve already lost 6 months.”
The FMGs’ stories reflect not just bureaucratic delays, but a larger systemic failure.
While courts push for rightful stipends, the lack of budget, coordination, and political will has pushed hundreds of young doctors into a career limbo. These students aren’t asking for money anymore, they're begging for time.
With the NEET PG eligibility deadline fast approaching, and no PSM postings in sight, FMGs are caught in a storm of red tape, judicial contradictions, and administrative silence.
It’s now up to the Supreme Court, the NMC, and the Central/state governments to urgently intervene not just to enforce stipends, but to ensure internship access itself, experts say.
