SC gives six weeks to Centre for decision on foreign medical graduates

The Centre asked for six weeks' time from the Supreme Court to take any final decision related to the foreign medical graduates returned to India due to Covid-19 or Ukraine and Russia war and the apex court has granted it. Many such FMGs had to return to India due to unprecedented situations.

Supreme Court has told the Centre that now they cannot further delay this matter as the future of the foreign medical graduates depend on the Centre's decision and they must come up with a solution soon. The apex court, on request of the Centre, granted six weeks time to take a final decision on the foreign medical graduates who returned to the country due to unprecedented situations like the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia and Ukraine war.

While dealing with a batch of petitions, a bench of justices BR Gavai and Vikram Nath said, “At the request of the additional solicitor general (ASG), list the matter after six weeks,” as reported by Hindustan Times.

The bench said, “We do not possess the expertise and will not take any decision by ourselves. They (Centre) have constituted a committee of experts and we will go by their recommendations. If they specify a cut-off date, we will go by it. It is within their discretion to extend it to other students as well.”

More details on FMGs case

The court had asked the Centre to form a committee to examine the situation faced by the foreign medical graduates who completed over three semesters of their course through online mode but were not allowed to be registered as under a scheme framed by the Centre on July 28, which is the mandatory internship required for practising medicine in India.

Appearing for Centre, ASG Aishwarya Bhati informed the Court that a committee has been constituted which is examining the case of the students who were in their penultimate year of the medical undergraduate course. “Kindly give us six more weeks. The Committee has been constituted and needs some more time," Bhati said.

Many FMGs returned from China during the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and could not return back due to the stringent restrictions on travel to the country. Similarly, when Russia and Ukraine war started many Indian students pursuing medical courses in Ukraine had to return to the country. Due to these circumstances, they missed their physical clinical training which is mandatory for practising medicine in India.

Read more:

• China returned medical students: SC tells Centre to look from Humanitarian Angle
• NMC has no regulations to accommodate Ukraine returned medicos, reiterates govt