New Delhi: An official analysis of 61,708 Indian students who graduated from foreign medical institutions between 2015 and 2018 has revealed that only 14.2% of them cleared the mandatory licensure examination to practice in India, the Indian Express reported. About 87.6% (54,055) of those who took the test were from colleges in just seven countries: China, Russia, Bangladesh, Ukraine, Nepal, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.
While students who got the degree from less-popular destinations like Mauritius and Bangladesh had high success rates, those from top choices like China and Russia fared dismally.
The screening test, called the Foreign Medical Graduates Examination (FMGE), was introduced in 2002 and is conducted twice a year by the National Board of Examinations (NBE). The data has reportedly been made public to help students make an informed decision before pursuing a medical degree abroad.
“The candidates, and their parents and families, must know that the training quality in a majority of foreign institutions is not optimum, specifically in the context of knowledge and skill benchmarks required for practice in India. Therefore, they should think carefully… it is unfortunate that so many of them have to simply sit out after getting a foreign qualification. This is a matter of serious concern,” Dr Vinod Paul, member (health), NITI Aayog, told the Indian Express.
The NBE analysis also mentions pass percentages of students from institutions across various countries who took the test. About 83.33% (10 of 12) who got their degree from the University of Rajshahi in Bangladesh and appeared for the exam cleared it. Top institutions in other countries mentioned in the Indian Express report include Anna Medical College and Research Centre in Mauritius (41 of 62), B P Koirala Institute of Health Sciences in Nepal (100 of 239), Jinzhou Medical College in China (35 of 121), Tambov State University in Russia (14 of 34) and Ivano Frankivsk National Medical University in Ukraine (131 of 380).