Allot internship time soon, urge foreign medicos

CHENNAI: The foreign medical graduates (FMG) of Tamil Nadu have requested State Health Secretary Gagandeep Singh Bedi to expedite the allotment process for their internship programme. As many as 400 graduates are waiting to join their internship in the State.

The foreign medical graduates alleged that they are facing the issue of waiting for verification and internship allotment every year after clearing the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination. One-year medical internship is mandatory for the foreign graduates in the State.

The graduates through the Tamil Nadu Medical Students Association stated that the duration of medical courses in other countries is longer compared to India and they are made to wait for over six months for verification and register only after the completion of mandatory internship.

The delay in the allotment for internship further delays the process. It takes eight to nine years to register as a doctor in India, the association said.

While the Tamil Nadu Medical Council is expected to help the foreign graduates, the high registration fees with the council is one of the concerns. Though the usual charge for registration with the council for medicos is Rs 3,600, the foreign graduates are charged about Rs 21,000 for registration.

“Tamil Nadu Medical Council is mishandling the problem. It is acting against the interests of foreign medical graduates. Usually, state medical councils are expected to be helpful and they should be willing to solve the problems immediately with the guidance of national medical council.

We urge the TN medical council to help the students in such case as many of these graduates had to face challenges during the pandemic and also due to the Ukraine-Russia war,” said Dr G R Ravindranath, secretary of Doctor’s Association for Social Equality.