Delayed internships bog down medical graduates who fled Ukraine war

CHENNAI: The medical students who had completed their undergraduate medical course in Ukraine, amid war, are now struggling to get the internship allotment in the State.

The Foreign Medical Graduates (FMGs) have passed the Foreign Medical Graduates Examination (FMGE) this year and submitted their documents for verification, but they have not been called for physical verification even after a month of submission.

The students appeared for the FMG exam in January 2024, and the results were out in February. The registration for the internship and document verification for the eligibility was started and the responses for in-person verification were expected in April.

But the internship has not been allotted yet as the physical verification has not been done by the TN Medical Council.

Shabir, a medical aspirant who completed his medical course in Kyrgyzstan (2017-2023) is awaiting the document verification in the process of allotment of internship. “Even after a month of submitting the application and documents online, the physical verification has not been completed. If the internship is delayed, it will hamper our preparations for postgraduates too,” said Shabir.

Though the state health department had promised support to the students who were hit by the Ukraine-Russia war, the students are reportedly not receiving responses from the Tamil Nadu Medical Council. With most of the students in the previous batches (pre-Ukraine-Russia war period) receiving their internship only a few days ago, one year after the application completion, these medical graduates are worried about their future.

Delay in internship seriously hurts these medical graduates as it affects their preparations for postgraduate courses through NEET PG tests.

Graduates of medicine from foreign countries hailing from Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Bihar, Goa, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh have already started their internship for about a month now. But the allotment has not yet started for the TN students.

Another foreign medical graduate Reneta says that she had received the pass certificate from the National Medical Commission but the Tamil Nadu Medical Council failed to conduct the verification process.

The limited number of seats for foreign medical graduates in the State is the problem, says RVS Surendran, vice president of Tamil Nadu Medical Council.

“Only 10 per cent of seats are allocated for FMGs in the State. After the examination, the process of verification also takes time and the online verification has to be completed before they are called for physical verification,” he said.