Induction of FMGs for assistance to Healthcare: Supreme Court to hear plea on June 15

  • Shruti Kakkar
  • 11:41 PM, 11 Jun 2021

Read Time: 04 minutes

The Supreme Court today adjourned the plea seeking induction of Foreign Medical Graduates (FMGs) in the healthcare workforce of the country to augment the ailing healthcare system for June 15, 2021. 

The matter had to be heard before the vacation bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and MR Shah. However the same was adjourned because Justice MR Shah had another bench with Justice Ashok Bhushan at 2:00 PM wherein the court had to hear the matters related to grant of ex gratia payment to families of deceased succumbed to CoVID, suo moto plea related to problems and miseries of migrant labourers and the plea seeking directions in the form of fresh loan moratorium, extension of time under the restructuring scheme and temporary cease on the declaration of NPA by financial banks.

Earlier the Bench of Justice LN Rao and Justice Aniruddha Bose on June 1, 2021 had issued notice and directed the Centre to reply within 2 weeks. 

The petition was filed by Association of MD Physicians and two other associations through Advocate Astha Sharma who have submitted that FMGs are doctors who have obtained their primary medical degrees such as/ equivalent to MBBS outside India and hence should be treated at par with the Indian medical graduates.

The Petitioners have sought a one-time exemption for their members, and for all other FMGs eligible to take the FMGE, from taking such FMGE, and to be inducted into the COVID-19 workforce in order to augment the health infrastructure of the country. 

In the alternative, the Petitioners seek that the qualifying criteria of FMGs who had taken the FMGE December 2020 be reduced and brought at par with that of graduates who took the NEET Postgraduate examination of 2020, in order to make such FMGs eligible to be part of the national healthcare workforce.

The matter is now expected to be heard on June 15, 2021.