Medical education in India has cut-throat competition due to the less number of seats availability. In a reprieve to students who want to pursue MBBS abroad, the Madras high court stayed a single judge order prohibiting the Medical Council of India (MCI) and the Centre from issuing eligibility certificate to those students who score less than 80% marks in Class XII. Moreover, the decision on the petition is taken as very seriously by the house.
A division bench of Justice M Sathyanarayanan and Justice N Seshasayee passed the interim order on the appeal moved by the MCI’s board of governors. The bench also ordered notice to the Union and state health ministries, returnable by December 17. Stay Updated with MBBS/MCI notification here on our news section.
On September 28, a single judge of the court, passing orders on a petition filed by Thamarai Selvan, held that at least 80% should be cut off for joining a medical course in a foreign country. The petitioner, who is a foreign medical degree holder, sought direction to the MCI to issue the certificate of provisional registration to enable him to undergo the Compulsory Rotatory Residential Internship (CRRI) in an approved medical college-hospital in the state and subsequently issue the permanent registration certificate.
Not all foreign medical graduates are poor in their knowledge and skills but corruption by self-financed medical colleges given for giving poor results of examination held for them to discourage students from going abroad and joining them with high donation /capitation fees is also an important reason for the poor result
The single judge had pointed out that in the past 10 years, just 15%-25% of doctors with foreign medical degrees managed to clear the mandatory Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE) conducted by the National Board of Examination (NBE) to practice in India. When students with more than 95% in the qualifying examinations are unable to get a medical college seat in India, how can candidates with 50% marks be allowed to get admission in a foreign college, the judge wondered.
Assailing the order, the MCI moved the present appeal. When the plea came up for hearing, the council contended that the single judge passed the order without any basis, and contrary to the statute. It further submitted that without there being a challenge to the rules of the eligibility requirement for taking admission in a foreign institution, the single judge has re-legislated provisions of the regulation.
