FMGs cannot get eligibility certificate to attempt FMGE screening test after obtaining medical degree from abroad: Delhi HC

Denying relief to an FMG, the Delhi High Court has stated that Foreign Medical Graduates cannot get an eligibility certificate to appear in the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE) i.e. the screening test to practice in India, after obtaining their medical degrees from the medical institutes abroad.

Clarifying that the eligibility certificate has to be obtained before securing medical admission abroad, the HC bench of Justice C Hari Shankar referred to the Supreme Court judgment and noted, “I am bound by the judgment of the Supreme Court in Indian Doctors from Russia Welfare Association and the decisions of the Division Bench of this Court in Ishan Kaul and Shambhavi Sharma, as well as the statutory dictate contained in Section 13(4B) of the IMC Act, all of which envisage obtaining of the Eligibility Certificate before joining the medical course abroad, and stipulate it as a precondition for the candidate to be eligible to appear in the FMGE for practicing in India as a medical professional. I have, therefore, reluctantly had to hold that the Eligibility Certificate cannot be obtained after the candidate has obtained the PMQ [ Primary Medical Qualification] from abroad.”