FMGs challenge NMC-imposed 2 years CRMI; SC issues notice

The apex court has sent notices to the Centre and NMC on a plea against the proposed two-year internships for foreign medical graduates without clinical training, read here for the details.

While hearing a batch of petitions filed by foreign medical graduates (FMGS) against the proposed two years of CRMI, the Supreme Court issued notices to the Centre and National Medical Commission (NMC) and sought their responses to the petitions.

The case was heard by the Supreme Court bench comprising Justices BR Gavai and Vikram Nath. The next hearing on this matter will be on January 25, 2023.

“The petitioners are not shying away from an opportunity to gain more experience. But they are in a situation where the court has directed the centre and the commission to devise a workable solution for the junior batch that has completed three semesters online, whereas the petitioners have had only one remote semester. That too, at a time when the pandemic was waging – between January and May 2020. After that, the petitioners have also qualified for the Foreign Medical Graduates Examination and secured their provisional medical registration,” said the petitioners' Advocate Shivam Singh, as reported by Live Law.

The background

NMC had proposed the two-year Compulsory Rotatory Medical Internship (CRMI) for foreign medical graduates who could not complete practical clinical training as they returned to India due to the unprecedented situation of the Covid-19 pandemic and also those affected by the Russia and Ukraine war. Normally, the CRMI is for one year period only.

Read more:

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• 1100 Indian students still in Ukraine: MoS Meenakshi Lekhi