The refusal of Kerala Medical Council (former Travancore Cochin Medical Council) to provide permission to Kerala medical students who studied in China, to pursue further studies in India has put a huge question mark over their education and career prospects. Many of these MBBS students of various universities in China, have been staring at an uncertain future as the KMC has denied them provisional registration certificates required for undergoing practical and clinical training in India. Another batch of students who have to undergo internships in India have also not been allowed to go ahead. Now The Parents’ Association of the Chinese students have moved the Kerala High Court seeking a directive to allow students to finish practical training and internship either in the state or any other state in the country.
The students in question were forced to return to India during the initial outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic in the beginning of the year 2020. Kerala reported the first COVID-19 case in the country in January 2020, a month after the initial outbreak of the novel coronavirus in Wuhan in China, in December 2019. India’s first patient was a medical student of Wuhan University. The student along with many other medical students of the Chinese city rushed back to their home towns in Kerala. But in the two years, the students have made no headway with the TCMC which has continued to deny provisional registration certificates to these students saying that the practical classes which are held alongside theory classes, have been conducted online and hence not valid. Even a meeting with Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in October 2021 requesting him to accommodate students in Kerala to complete their practical and clinical training, was futile. While this is the state of those who are in the process of completing their five year study, the ones who have completed five years and have to undergo a one year internship in India, is even worse. The KMC has denied provisional registration certificates even for those who have passed the Foreign Medical Graduate Exam (FMGE) conducted by the National Board of Examinations. Passing this exam is mandatory for students who have to undergo their internship and practise medicine in India. A petition filed by 147 Kerala students on this is pending in the Delhi High Court.
In view of China opting for stringent lockdown for COVID-19, these students find themselves unable to return to China to continue their studies. The MBBS course in China is a six-year course including one year of internship which can be completed in India or China. Some Chinese universities mandate that the internships should be completed in China, while others approve internships completed in India.
Now the KMC claims it is subject to the decisions of the National Medical Commission (NMC), but it does not recognise internships completed in China, though the NMC does so, citing a High court order. And by not allowing the students to complete their internships in India, TCMC has put the future of all these students in jeopardy. Sreejyoth Raveendran, a student from Kannur, is upset that KMC refused to give him a provisional registration certificate despite clearing FMGE exams in December 2021. As a result, he is now unable to go ahead with his internship in India.
“My batch mates who qualified the exam in June 2021 got the certificate. Without the certificate; we are unable to do an internship. Our batch mates who are from Delhi got provisional certificates from the Delhi Medical Board. Both the DMC and TCMC come under the NMC. Then why are there different rules for different states,” he asked.
Harikumaran Nair GS, President of Modern Medicine of KMC told TNM that the state medical council is acting as per the direction of the NMC. “We are acting as per the direction of NMC. KMC doesn’t make its own decision in matters like this,” he said.
The KMC's stand is questionable as the NMC in March 2022 in an official notification, had made it clear that foreign medical graduates with incomplete internships can finish the same in the country. The NMC had stated that the Foreign Medical Graduates are facing hardship in getting themselves registered with some of the state medical councils amid the on-going evacuation of Indians from Ukraine and the pandemic. This order of NMC was applicable to graduates who had acquired a foreign medical degree or primary qualification, and also those who joined their undergraduate course prior to November 18, 2021.
Vinay Vinayachandran, another student said that the TCMC’s stand is adding to the woes of the foreign medical graduates who have many hurdles to jump to practise in the country. “A provisional pass certificate is issued by the University where the student has studied. It is issued in the final semester and it is the main requirement to attend FMGE. It’s very clear from the pass certificates when we joined the course and that we wrote the exams after studying for five and half years. Even with this, the KMC has refused to give a provisional registration certificate claiming that classes were conducted online for more than a year. Even medical students in Kerala had classes online during the pandemic and their classes were held valid. The same should be applicable to us too. The union government has accepted the online classes, only Kerala objects,” Vinay said.
Many of the universities in China have given the students the option to return when the borders open, but the country remains closed to outsiders. “We submitted representations to the Union government seeking to facilitate the return of the medical students to China by adhering to the COVID-19 protocol of that country. But that request was handled politically and not from the point of education. Students who returned from Ukraine, who clear FMGE have been given the option to finish their internship in the country with stipend, as the plight of those students were dealt with from students’ point of view not politically,” Vinay added.
The writ petition has been filed on behalf of 92 students, who are studying in different universities in China. The petition has been filed by the Parents Association of Foreign Medical Graduates, formed for the welfare of Indian students who are pursuing their medical education abroad, especially in China. The respondents in the petition are the Union government, state government, NMC, Ministry of External Affairs and Health Ministry.
The petition sought two primary reliefs; firstly, to supplement the Indian Foreign medical students in China who have been taking online classes, with practical and clinical training in India as an immediate relief in the light of pandemic. Secondly, to permit the students to complete their mandatory one-year internship in India after their final year theoretical course.
The petition cited that the universities where the students have been pursuing their medical course are among the top universities in China and are approved by the NMC and fulfil all of WHO's standards. “Due to the pandemic, these students have been continuing their courses online and have not been able to avail the required practical and clinical training. The situation of the students has become more worrisome in the light of the order dated September 30, 2020 passed by the NMC. Wherein it has been stated that, the online classes for the Indian medical students are considered valid, provided that the students are supplemented with practical courses when the colleges reopen. The NMC has emphasised that, for Indian MBBS students, online courses alone will not suffice, it has to be supplemented with practical courses. The importance of practical training is very evident here, we don't undermine it. Neither the NMC nor the Government has passed any order accepting the online mode of education undergone by the petitioner students,” they contended.
Thiruvananthapuram | Medical students who returned from China following the Covid-19 outbreak protested outside Kerala Secretariat earlier today, demanding official recognition of the practical classes being taken by them in different govt & pvt hospitals. pic.twitter.com/I4RwtTFinw
— ANI (@ANI) March 19, 2022
According to the petition, as per Foreign Medical Graduate (FMGL) Regulation, 2021 it has been mandated under schedule-1 clause 2(i)(a) that for students studying abroad to practise in India, the student has to undergo a course of theory, practical and clinical training equivalent to MBBS of India. “The theoretical aspects have been taken care of by the universities, but due to an unavoidable situation, the practical aspect of it has not been taken care of by these universities for want of permission from the National Medical Commission. It is also to be noted that these Chinese Universities recognise the internship completed in the home countries of the students as long as the hospital has WHO approved standards.” it read.