Medicos educated abroad fail to clear Indian screening test

An average 77 per cent Indian students who returned with a foreign medical degree in the past 12 years failed to clear the mandatory screening examination conducted by Medical Council of India. 

Any citizen possessing a primary medical qualification awarded by any medical institution outside the country seeking provisional or permanent registration with MCI or any state medical council needs to qualify the screening test (known as Foreign Medical Graduates Examination) conducted by the MCI through the National Board of Examinations (NBE).

In a year-by-year break-up of the number of students who sat for the screening exam, data provided by NBE under RTI Act shows that since 2004, the number of instances of successful candidates crossing 50 per cent of the total who appeared was two, while in one particular instance, only 4 per cent students passed the test. 

The highest percentage of 76.8 successful candidates was registered way back in September 2005 when 2,851 students appeared for the test and 2,192 passed it.  The last two sessions of the screening exam in 2015, however, saw only 10.4 per cent and 11.4 per cent candidates clearing the test. In June last year, 5,967 candidates appeared for the exam of whom only 603 cleared it while in December, 6,407 candidates took the screening test and only 731 passed. 

Dr K Senthil, President, Tamil Nadu Medical Council says, “The standards set by MCI are high, and parents, who want their children to become doctors despite low scores, compromise on the quality of education. 

Few colleges in countries like China and Philippines grant them admission. However, when they return to India they are unable to cope with the MCI standard.” Dr JA Jayalal, Vice President of TN Medical Council says, “The foreign universities concerned have not been able to train them adequately to face the tests at home.”