Every year scores of students attempt to clear NEET to get into India’s premium medical institutions. The paucity of MBBS seats makes it a gruelling task to secure a seat in a medical college and hence, only the best students can fulfil their dreams of becoming a doctor.

A plethora of students are rejected while some decide to pursue other courses, some students decide to pursue their medical dreams on foreign shores. In a concerning development, 84% foreign-educated doctors flunk screening test required to practice in India reveals an India Today report.

Indian laws allow students to pursue MBBS courses from universities abroad. But in order to get a license to practice in India, they are required to qualify the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE) conducted by the National Board of Examination (NBE). Despite spending lakhs of rupees and devoting 5-6 years of their lives pursuing the coveted MBBS degree on foreign shores, a majority of them fail to pass the FMGE which is necessary to obtain the license to practice in India.

Clearing FMGE test is mandatory for all doctors who have earned their MBBS degree from a foreign country. Only those who earn their MBBS and post-graduate degrees from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and the US are exempted from this test.

Besides earning their degrees from these five countries, these students (in case they want to practice in India) also have to be recognised for enrollment as medical practitioners in the respective countries. Calling out these institutions for the poor performance of their students, the government said they “admit Indian students without proper assessment” of the students’ academic ability to cope up with medical education, resulting in a situation where many students fail to qualify the screening test.

The India Today report reveals that between 2012 and 2018, a total of 97,639 Indians who earned their MBBS degrees from foreign universities appeared for Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE). Of these, only 16,097 were able to clear securing a pass percentage of just 16 per cent.

China and Russia have emerged as the most favoured countries for Indian students looking to pursue MBBS, However, of the 32,139 Indian doctors who graduated from Chinese universities and took FMGE between 2012 and 2018, only 4,609 managed to pass it. Similarly, 17,674 MBBS graduates from Russia took FMGE in this period but only 2,606 were able to clear it. The numbers highlight an alarming disparity between the quality of education imparted in the aforementioned countries and the curriculum in India.

The report further reveals that Indian students earned MBBS degrees from over 60 countries between 2012 and 2018. Data of those who took FMGE between 2012 and 2018 show China was the most-favoured destination for pursuing MBBS among Indians. It was followed by Russia, Ukraine, Nepal and Kyrgyzstan. Together, 76,425 Indians graduated with an MBBS degree from these five countries and took FMGE between 2012 and 2018. This was 78.27 per cent of the total FMGE examinees. But of these, only 11,516 (15 per cent) were able to clear the screening test and get a license to practice in India. It is clear that the likes of China, Russia and Ukraine are giving away degrees for easy effort as despite emerging as popular MBBS destinations, graduates from these countries have struggled to clear the mandatory screening test to practice in India.

The damning statistics prove that medical education in India is one of the most superior in arguably the entire eastern hemisphere. India’s obsession with medical studies shows is its brilliant quality of medical education. The government must promote India’s medical prowess as recognition of superior quality medical education in India can attract foreign students.

A recent study has revealed that India has a shortage of an estimated 600,000 doctors and 2 million nurses. In India, there is one government doctor for every 10,189 people (the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends a ratio of 1:1,000) or a deficit of 600,000 doctors, and the nurse: patient ratio is 1:483, implying a shortage of two million nurses.

India is facing an acute shortage of doctors and with public health insurance schemes like Ayushmaan Bharat and others there’s a call for greater availability of fine medical staffs including doctors, hence more medical schools are the need of the hour.