The National Medical Commission (NMC) has warned medical seat aspirants not to overlook the “supervisory”, “regulatory” and “infrastructural” issues in foreign medical colleges before seeking admission there.

This is part of an advisory issued on February 18, for students who wish to seek registration to practice allopathy in India, after seeking admissions in medical colleges in Kyrgyzstan or any other foreign country.

“It has come to the notice of the Ministry of External Affairs that a few new medical colleges have been launched in Kyrgyzstan in a year alone. They are Avicenna University, Adam University, Royal Metro University, International Medical University, Salymbekov University, ABC, etc. As many as 200 Indian students have enrolled in these institutions without enrollment of a single Kyrgyz student…”

A large percentage of the foreign medical graduate students in the country are from Kerala. This order assumes significance against the backdrop of the demand for a mechanism to help students who seek to enroll in medical schools abroad. There had been reports that between 70% and 80% of these students fail to clear the Foreign Medical Graduates Examination (FMGE), the mandatory screening examination conducted by the National Board of Examinations (NBE). All foreign medical graduates need to clear the FMGE to secure a registration to practice in India.

It was also found that a large number of those unsuccessful students had graduated from medical universities in China, Russia and Ukraine. These countries offer undergraduate degrees equivalent to the Indian MBBS at a lower fee and without the tough entrance examinations and admission process.

K.V. Babu, Kannur-based public health activist, pointed out that the low pass percentage in FMGE was an indicator of the quality of medical education given in certain countries. Both parents and medical aspirants should also take note of the fact that no local student had enrolled in the medical schools named by the NMC.

The commission has urged prospective students to be aware of supervisory, regulatory and infrastructural issues there. Also, they need to refer to the FMGE Regulations, 2021, before applying or planning to seek admissions to institutions in Kyrgyzstan or any other country. The NMC has asked students to exercise due diligence in “choosing where to pursue medical education from”.