TN announces 90% fees reduction for FMG’s Internship

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government has announced that Foreign Medical Graduates (FMGs) would receive a fees reduction of up to 90 per cent for their internship at Government Medical College and hospitals, Health Minister Ma Subramanian said on Friday.

He said that students who cannot afford medical education in India opt for medical colleges abroad. After passing a national level test, foreign medical graduates are obligated to complete a Compulsory Rotatory Residential Internship (CRRI). Accordingly, students are expected to pay a charge of Rs 3.2 lakh to obtain a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University and a further charge of Rs 2 lakhs to the state health department.

"Heeding to the repeated requests placed by the medical students for the reduction of internship fees, the government after consulting with the Chief Minister M K Stalin has reduced the cost for obtaining the NOC to Rs. 30,000 and has completely discounted the charge paid to the health department, " he said.

He further said that government has also placed requests to the National Medical Commission (NMC) to increase the number of Internship seats from 7.5 per cent to 20 per cent to allow more students. At least 1,881 new positions have been created at the 11 new medical colleges, 521 are to be filled by waitlisted applicants. Subsequently, candidates can now apply at the Directorate of Medical Education.

The Health Minister also inaugurated a special vaccination camp for secretariat staff for precautionary booster dose administration and 6,400 doses were administered. He said that 3.45 crore people are eligible for the booster dose in the State and 40 lakhs have been vaccinated. A vaccination drive was organised at Presidency College to ensure undergraduate students who have reached the age of 18 get vaccinated.