CHENNAI: The State government on Saturday launched a dedicated online portal to facilitate internship placements for foreign medical graduates.
The portal, developed by the Directorate of Medical Education (DME), was launched by Health and Family Welfare Minister Ma Subramanian at the DMS campus in Teynampet here. It enables foreign medical graduates to access real-time vacancy data for government medical colleges and apply directly for internship placements.
Addressing reporters, the Minister said the initiative would end the uncertainty faced by students who are forced to physically approach institutions to identify vacant slots. "This portal will allow students to log in, view available positions in medical colleges and obtain orders without delay," he said.
He noted that after the present government assumed office, the earlier requirement of paying Rs 3 lakh to the Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University for internship training had been withdrawn. In addition, eligible interns are being provided a monthly stipend of Rs 25,000.
At the same event, the Minister issued appointment orders to 668 nurses who had worked on a temporary basis during the COVID-19 pandemic. He said the move was guided by Chief Minister MK Stalin's direction that no pandemic-era nurse should be left without employment.
Of the 2,814 nurses recruited during the pandemic, 2,146 had already been appointed through the Medical Services Recruitment Board (MRB). Following verification of documents, 668 more have now been accommodated, while the remaining 59 will receive orders after scrutiny is completed.
The Minister said 5,825 contractual nurses had been granted permanent appointments during the present government's tenure. Senior officials of the Health and Family Welfare department were present at the event.