With increasing competition in India, students increasingly move out overseas to get medical education. But that only proves to be a one-way journey as only 15% clear the Foreign Medical Graduates Examination (FMGE) when they return to India. FMGE is a mandatory test for foreign medical graduates to get medical practise licence in India. According to an Indian Express report, the maximum number of aspirants who are unsuccessful in clearing FMGE are from Bangladesh and Mauritius. These two countries also happen to be the least favoured destinations for medical education, the IE report adds.
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Further citing a key finding in an analysis by National Board of Examinations, which also conducts FMGE, the reports adds that out of 61,708 Indian students who obtained foreign medical degrees between 2015 and 2018, only 14.2% or 8,764 students cleared FMGE. The passing rate was way below par in students from China, Russia and Ukraine as well. Seven countries viz., China, Russia, Bangladesh, Ukraine, Nepal, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan contributed the maximum number of students who appeared for FMGE. It was 87.6% or 54,055 students during the mentioned period.
Data shows that only 52% or 81 out of 154 students from Mauritius cleared FMGE examination. From Bangladesh and Nepal, only 27.11 or 343 out of 1,265 and 17.68% or 1,042 out of 5,894 cleared FMGE test respectively. The success rate of students from China, Russia and Ukraine was way dismal at 11.67%(2,370/20,314), 12.89% and 15% respectively.
IE reported quoted Dr Vinod Paul, Member (Health), Niti Ayog as saying that this data has been made public so that parents and students can take an informed decision regarding overseas medical education. Traditionally, Indian students favour China, Russia and Ukraine. Dr Paul added that parents and students must be aware of the quality of education in these foreign institutions as they clearly do not meet the benchmark required to practice the medical profession in India. Therefore students should be careful in picking institution as this is a matter of serious concerns, he added.
There are about 77,000 MBBS seats available in India. Dr Paul said that they are committed to increasing the number of MBBS seats in India to one lakh in the near future. Apart from these countries, Indian students also pursue MBBS course from countries like Saudi Arabia, Guyana, Libya, Cayman Islands and Pakistan!