New Delhi

Amid the ongoing evacuation of Indian medical students from Ukraine, the National Medical Commission (NMC) has allowed foreign medical graduates with incomplete internships, due to compelling situations like the Covid19 and war, to apply here in India to complete their internships.

"There are some Foreign Medical Graduates with incomplete internship due to compelling situations which is beyond their control such as COVID-19 and war etc", read the order. The relaxation comes with a caveat that the medical student will have to clear the Foreign Medical Graduates Examination (FMGE) here in India to avail of this benefit.

"Considering the agony and stress faced by these foreign medical graduates, their application to complete the remaining part of the internship in India is considered eligible. Accordingly, the same may be processed by State Medical Councils provided that the candidates must have cleared FMGE before applying for completion of internship in India," the order said.

This decision will be helpful for those students who are returning from Ukraine and are on the verge of their final year of MBBS studies.
According to the sources, the decision was already under process, coincidently it has come at the time of the Ukraine crisis.

Meanwhile, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) on Friday wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya regarding the fate and future of all MBBS students admitted to medical schools or colleges in Ukraine and now returning to India due to the situation there.

"The number of medical students who have sought admission to medical colleges/schools in Ukraine is substantial and they are at various stages of their progression. As a matter of set prescribed rules, an Indian student seeking admission to any foreign medical college is required to procure an eligibility certificate for the said admission from the then Medical Council of India now rechristened as National Medical Commission constituted vide National Medical Commission Act, 2019 repealing Indian Medical Council Act, of 1956," the IMA said in the letter.

Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan on Saturday informed that over 11,000 Indians have been evacuated from Ukraine so far.