The National Medical Commission on Friday allowed final year students who returned to India due to Covid-19 or the Russia-Ukraine war and got degrees from their institutes on or before June 30, 2022, to appear in the Foreign Medical Graduate exam.

"It is informed that the Indian students who were in the last year of their undergraduate medicine course (and due to Covid-19, Russia-Ukraine war, etc had to leave their foreign medical institute and return to India) and have subsequently completed their studies, as also have been granted certificate of completion of course/degree by their respective institute, on or before June 30, 2022, shall be permitted to appear in Foreign Medical Graduate Examination," it said in a statement.

Upon qualifying for the Foreign Medical Graduate (FMG) exam, they will be required to undergo a Compulsory Rotating Medical Internship (CRMI) for two years instead of the existing one year, the NMC said in the statement.

"Thereafter, upon qualifying for the FMG examination, such foreign medical graduates are required to undergo Compulsory Rotating Medical Internship (CRMI) for two years to make up for the clinical training which could not be physically attended by them during the undergraduate medicine course in the foreign institute as also to familiarise them with the practice of medicine under Indian conditions," it added.

The foreign medical graduates will be eligible to get registration only after completing the two-year CRMI, it said adding the relaxation granted to the foreign medical students is a "one-time measure" and shall not be treated as a precedent in the future. (AA/IANS)