Awaiting the announcement of a second round of Internship Counselling, Foreign Medical Graduates (FMGs) in Rajasthan began an indefinite sit-in protest yesterday, January 9 — yet again.
To recall, this cohort of FMGs staged a protest in front of the Department of Medical Education’s office in Jaipur, Rajasthan in December 2024, as 341 students were not allotted internships during the counselling round. A month later, they are compelled to launch a protest in front of the Department’s office once again.
The protesting FMGs cleared the FMG Examination in July 2024 and allege that the Rajasthan Medical Council has not paid heed to their demands.
“In one week, it would be one month since we last protested. We are yet to receive an update from the DME,” said Dr Shubham Rathore, one of the protesting FMGs. He further alleged that DME officials told the protesting FMGs that they would be allotted internships in the counselling for the upcoming January session of the FMGE.
Adding to this, Dr Jassi Choudhary, another protesting FMG, said, “We cannot secure internship seats as we cleared the FMGE with lower marks. Even if we appear for the counselling, we will still not be allotted an internship because of our marks.”
The FMGs further allege that medical councils in several other states organised additional rounds for students left out after the first round of internship counselling. “Haryana had four rounds, one of which was announced for four students. On the other hand, FMGs have to beg the Rajasthan Medical Council for an additional round,” Dr Choudhary lamented.
Delays leaving FMGs in distress
Every year, FMGs from Rajasthan are forced to protest, as the Rajasthan Medical Council never announces internship counselling on time, the protesting FMGs allege, and this year was no exception.
On November 18, the All Rajasthan MBBS Doctors Association (ARMDA) submitted a petition to DME officials, urging them to issue the internship counselling schedule for the FMGE June 2024 session without further delay. In response, the DME released the counselling schedule that very day.
However, this was not a source of relief for the protesting FMGs.
“Even after counselling, over 300 of us are left without internships, with no sign of an update from the DME,” Dr Rathore says.
He explains that the delay in counselling has become a cause for a lot of stress in FMGs.
“We take loans and mortgage our properties to be able to study medicine abroad. Banks start pressuring us to start repaying the loan after we graduate. However, without an internship, we have no source of income. We cannot work anywhere else as we are not eligible to work as doctors without clearing the internship,” he elaborates.
“It already feels like we’ve wasted six months, but the DME seems to be convinced that we should appear for internship counselling with the January 2025 FMGE candidates,” he laments.
The students, who spent the night at the protest site in front of the DME’s office, told EdexLive that their agitation would not stop until the department announced a second round of internship counselling.
This is not the first time that FMGs from Rajasthan have been left without internships after the counselling round. In April 2023, about 1,000 FMGs staged an agitation in front of the DME over the limited number of internship seats for FMGs in the state after they were not allotted internships.
