Amaravati: The Andhra Pradesh Medical Council has filed a review petition in the Andhra Pradesh High Court, seeking more time and clarification regarding its orders on granting permanent registration to foreign medical graduates.
On July 9, the High Court had directed the Andhra Pradesh Medical Council (APMC) to grant permanent registration to foreign medical graduate (FMG), K Vamsi in a month, even if the Indian embassy in Kyrgyzstan has not confirmed the authenticity of his graduation certificate, said a release.
“APMC filed a review petition in the High Court on Thursday (August 7) seeking clarity in respect of two verdicts delivered by it in the matter of period of internship required for FMGs,” said the release from the Health, Medical and Family Welfare Department.
In a separate verdict on August 4, the court instructed the APMC to issue “speaking orders” to four other FMGs, explaining why their requests for permanent registration were not being approved.
The APMC filed the review petition following the advice of the National Medical Council (NMC) to the Andhra Pradesh government.
Health and Family Welfare department Special Chief Secretary, M T Krishna Babu had also requested the NMC to clarify the duration of physical onsite study required to compensate for online studies undertaken by FMGs during the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war, as well as the details that must be included in compensation certificates from foreign institutions.
In its clarification on August 7, NMC underscored the importance of physical study of clinical courses by FMGs in respective foreign medical institutions, saying they cannot be substituted by online study “Medical education is not confined to academic knowledge alone and it involves the cultivation of clinical skills and the capacity to make life-saving decisions and any compromise in the standards of medical education can have far reaching and potentially irreversible consequences for the society at large,” said NMC.
The NMC referred to its regulations, which require FMGs to complete one year compulsory internship in India after their offline medical graduation abroad.
Following the disruption of Covid-19 outbreak and Russia-Ukraine war, the NMC issued two public notices on December 7, 2023 and June 16, 2024, saying in addition to one year of compulsory internship, FMGs are required to undergo one or two years of clerkship in India to compensate for the period of stay in India as applicable based on their passport entries.
NMC also clarified that compensation certificates issued by respective foreign medical institutions shall contain all the details of academic and clinical courses studied by FMGs during the extended period of study in their respective countries along with duration.
In addition, such certificates need to be authenticated by Indian embassies in those respective countries, it said.
NMC said complying with the July 9 directive of the Andhra Pradesh High Court will lead to ‘arbitrary relaxation of the norms’ designed to ensure uniform medical education standards nationwide.
NMC further suggested APMC to file an application with the division bench of the High Court seeking extension of time for complying with the court’s Judgement of July 9.
Since the deadline to comply with the July 9 order was Friday, the APMC filed the review petition on Thursday, seeking more time and clarification from the High Court.
