Screening test mandatory for foreign medical graduates
Medical graduates with foreign degrees will not be able to practise in India till they have cleared a screening test conducted by the Medical Council of India, the Supreme Court has ruled.
The screening test will also be mandatory for those students who have got MBBS degrees from a country with which India has a reciprocity agreement. At present, certain medical qualifications of UK, Australia, Canada, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland, Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh are covered under the reciprocity clause. From now, if an Indian student gets a medical degree from a foreign country covered under the reciprocity clause and wants to practise in India, he can do so only after clearing the MCI’s screening test.
The worst affected would be Indian students who had made a beeline for medical degrees from colleges in Nepal after the MCI had refused to recognise medical degrees from institutes in erstwhile USSR countries, which had liberal admission criteria.
Students went in droves to get admission in medical colleges in Nepal, with which India has a reciprocity clause, and had approached the SC after MCI said they were required to appear in the screening test.
Dismissing their plea against the screening test, a Bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices P Sathasivam and J M Panchal said:
Appellants have to appear in the screening test conducted by the National Board of Examination in terms of the Screening Test Regulations made by the MCI. It was noticed that such students also included those who did not fulfil the minimum eligibility requirements for admission to medical courses in India. Serious aberrations were noticed in the standards of medical education in some foreign countries, which were not on par with standards of medical education available in India,” the SC said justifying its ruling.
It was therefore felt necessary by Parliament to make a provision to enable MCI to conduct a screening test to satisfy the regulatory body about the adequacy of knowledge and skills acquired by citizens of India, who obtained medical qualifications from universities or medical institutions outside India.
#respond
SUNDARAM on March 31st, 2010
IT IS VERY UNFORTUNATE THAT IN OUR COUNTRY EDUCATION SYSTEM IS TOO COMMERCIAL.THEREIS NO PROPER/ADEQUATE INFRASTRUCTURE PROVIDED FOR MIDDLECLASS REASONABLY COMMITTED STUDENTS TO COMPLETE THEIR MEDICAL COURSE AND SERVE THE COMMON MAN IN INDIA, THE MOTHER LAND. THE PROCEEDURE OF MEDICAL SCREENING TEST IS NOTHING BUT A GAMBLE AND DO NOT REALLY SERVE THE VERY PURPOSE OF TESTING THE CANDIDATES GENUINE KNOWLEDGE ACQUIRED IN OVERSEAS EDUCATION. THE INHIBITION OF QUALITY OF EDUCATION IS WRONG.MORE CAN BE DELIBERATED AT THE APPROPRIATE FORUM ONLY FOE THE LARGER INTEREST OF INDIAN PATIENCE.