Medical PG Degrees from foreign countries will be valid in India : Report

Post-graduation degrees earned by MBBS doctors from abroad are set to be recognized by India’s medical education regulator.

At present, PG degrees from only five English-speaking countries — the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada — are recognized in India, and doctors with post-graduate degrees from countries like China and Russia are not treated on par with their Indian counterparts.

The Medical Council of India — Board of Governors has now decided to let PG doctors from any country get recognized and employed in hospitals and medical colleges, provided they clear the DNB (Diplomate of National Board) exam.

There are two ways for doctors to earn PG degrees in India — either through the PG Board, under the medical education regulator, which awards MD/MS (Doctor in Medicine, Doctor in Science) degrees, or through the NBE, under the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, which awards DNB.

“Only 10-15 percent of these graduates are able to clear the MCI licentiate exam every year, and even if we allow similar modes of entry to PG doctors, we want to ensure only highly-trained ones get licensed,” a senior MCI-BOG official said.

Even MBBS students who get their degrees from institutes abroad have to clear the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination conducted by the MCI (now MCI-BOG) before they can legally practice as doctors in the country. Their pass percentage, however, has been abysmally poor.

“The MCI-BOG has taken various steps to address doctor-shortage in India, recognizing PG graduates from abroad helps build the pool of specialist doctors,” a Health Ministry official said to New Indian Express.

Sources in the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said the government had asked the regulator to introduce major reforms to increase the number of MBBS and specialist doctors in the country, and this is a step in that direction.

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