NMC warns against unauthorised medical colleges illegitimate offshore medical programmes

The View From India Looking at World Affairs from the Indian perspective. Karnataka Today Your daily dose of news highlights from Karnataka First Day First Show News and reviews from the world of cinema and streaming. Today's Cache Your download of the top 5 technology stories of the day. Science For All The weekly newsletter from science writers takes the jargon out of science and puts the fun in! Data Point Decoding the headlines with facts, figures, and numbers Health Matters Ramya Kannan writes to you on getting to good health, and staying there The Hindu On Books Books of the week, reviews, excerpts, new titles and features. The NMC advised students and parents not to rely on college websites and advertisements alone while underlining that the NMC does not conduct direct admissions to any medical college. | Photo: iStock/ Getty Images The NMC has warned students against taking admission in medical colleges operating in the country without requisite approval, as well as unauthorised offshore medical programmes. In an advisory, the apex body said students graduating from non-compliant institutions will be held ineligible for the licensing exam FMGE, and the onus of the disqualification would solely lie on them. "The NMC has observed a few instances of unauthorised medical colleges operating in the country, without requisite approvals. These institutions are misleading students and parents by claiming recognition and offering admissions in medical courses that are not legally sanctioned," the commission said in the advisory. Putting a checklist to verify the legitimacy of an institute, the NMC told MBBS aspirants to visit the commission's official website to check the list of recognised medical colleges, and contact it directly for verification. It strongly advised students and parents not to rely on college websites and advertisements alone while underlining that the NMC does not conduct direct admissions to any medical college. In the advisory, the NMC put out a phone number, +91-11-25367033, for parents, students, and stakeholders if they need to contact the commission for any query about the recognition status of an institute. The NMC further mentioned that Singhania University in Rajasthan and Sanjiban Hospital and Medical College in Howrah, West Bengal, have come under its scrutiny for offering and running medical courses without authorisation, and legal action has already been initiated against one of them. The advisory also specified the regulations under the Foreign Medical Graduate Licentiate (FMGL) Regulations, 2021, for students planning to pursue medical education abroad. According to it, the candidate should have completed a minimum of 54 months of medical education at a single institution, and a 12-month internship should be completed at the same foreign university. Besides, the regulations state that clinical training should not be divided across institutions or countries and the medium of instruction must be English. The other key requirements included that the candidate should have studied the mandatory subjects listed in Schedule-I. Also he or she should have been registered with the respective professional regulatory body or otherwise, competent to grant licence to practise medicine in their respective jurisdiction of the country in which the medical degree is awarded and at par with the license to practise medicine given to citizen of that country. "It is firmly advised that for detailed requirements, Schedule I of the Foreign Medical Graduate Licentiate Regulation, 2021 (FMGL Regulation 2021) shall be complied with, to apply for a licence or permanent registration to practise in India," the advisory said. Further, no foreign medical graduate shall be granted permanent registration, unless he or she has undergone supervised internship in India for a minimum term of 12 months, after applying for the same to the commission. "Foreign medical graduates who fail to comply with these regulations may lead to disqualification for registration to practice medicine in India," the advisory said. College admission / medical colleges / medical education / admission/enrollment Terms & conditions  |  Institutional Subscriber Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments. We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.