Foreign Medical Graduates (FMGs) in Andhra Pradesh launched a hunger strike, escalating their ongoing protest against the Andhra Pradesh Medical Council (APMC) for its continued delay in issuing Permanent Registrations (PRs).
Despite fulfilling all eligibility criteria and receiving clearance from the National Medical Commission (NMC), dozens of FMGs say they have been left in limbo, unable to work, study further, or repay their education loans in the absence of their PRs.
The hunger strike follows months of written petitions, legal notices, and repeated assurances that have been ignored. FMG students allege that personal interpretations of rules by the APMC Registrar have obstructed due process, amounting to administrative harassment.
Several students have already paid registration fees and submitted compensation certificates to the state medical council, only to be met with silence or arbitrary demands for resubmissions. They describe the situation as “mental torture.”
“I haven’t seen any real change. In General Body Meetings, the registrar made assurances, but never followed up. He keeps saying he wants clarification from the NMC, but it’s been over a year now. The NMC has already stated that state medical councils are autonomous, and other states have taken action accordingly. But here, he’s dissecting every word of the guideline like it’s a CBI interrogation. Some of us have even paid the registration fee, yet we’re still being made to wait,” said an FMG doctor from Andhra Pradesh, who cleared the exam in 2022, on the condition of anonymity.
What NMC says
According to the NMC’s key circular dated March 4, 2022, FMGs who either joined or completed their foreign medical degrees before November 18, 2021, are not subject to the stricter Foreign Medical Graduate Licentiate (FMGL) 2021 regulations.
The circular also explicitly allowed such FMGs to complete internships in India, especially in cases where education was disrupted by COVID-19 or the Russia-Ukraine war, provided they cleared the FMGE and submitted compensation certificates.
The same circular granted autonomy to State Medical Councils to process these applications.
What are the students demanding?
In a joint representation submitted earlier this year, the All India Medical Students’ Association – Foreign Medical Students’ Wing (AIMSA-FMSW) demanded:
Acceptance of old compensation certificates for PRs
Reversal of two-year and three-year internship extensions not aligned with NMC guidelines
Withdrawal of APMC's March 2025 circular that imposed the 10-year rule on FMGs retroactively
Immediate PR issuance for May and November 2023 counselling students
Recognition of internships completed in India in line with the NMC's March 2022 circular
Students also raised concerns about extra-duration internships being imposed arbitrarily, while other state councils had already granted PRs.
In a letter dated May 29, 2025, APMC informed the NMC that it would now follow NMC rules but insisted on legal undertakings from students, citing a pending court case as grounds for delay.
During General Body Meetings (GBM) held in May and June 2025, the council finally resolved to implement NMC guidelines, accept compensation letters, and exempt eligible FMGs from the 10-year rule. But despite this, PRs are still not being issued.
