[COVID-19] Foreign Medical Graduates move Supreme Court seeking relaxation of conditions for induction into India's healthcare workforce

The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought the response of the Central government on a plea seeking directions to induct foreign medical graduates (FMGs) into the healthcare workforce of the country to augment the ailing healthcare system..FMGs are doctors who have obtained their primary medical degrees equivalent to MBBS from outside India. They become eligible to practice medicine in India only if they clear Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE). The plea was filed by three associations of FMGs which are broadly comprised of the following persons as its members: .A. FMGs who are awaiting to take the qualifying examination, FMGE for being eligible to enrol themselves as medical professionals who may practice in India; B. FMGs who have taken the December 2020 FMGE and have failed to obtain the minimum 50 percentage (150 out of 300) marks qualifying criteria; C. FMGs who have qualified the FMGE and have also completed the 12 month compulsory rotational internship and are awaiting registration with the National Medical Council and State Medical Councils owing to procedural formalities. .The petition filed through advocate Astha Sharma sought a one-time exemption for FMGs from taking FMGE, and prayed that they be inducted into the COVID-19 workforce in order to augment the health infrastructure of the country..In the alternative, the petitioners prayed 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, so that such FMGs become eligible to be part of the national healthcare workforce.."If the relief of lowering the qualifying criteria for the December 2020 FMGE examination be brought down from 150 out of 300 marks (50%), to 110 out of 300 marks (roughly 36.66%), 9280 (Nine Thousand Two Hundred Eighty) FMG doctors would be added to the healthcare services of the nation," the petition said. .The petition further stated that even a 10 percent approximate reduction for qualification in the December FMGE, at par with reduction in other medical qualifying examinations, would result in over 6,836 FMGs, who had scored over 120 marks out of 300 marks, being added to the healthcare workforce..The Bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and Aniruddha Bose, while issuing notice, expressed skepticism about whether it "can grant relief to those who haven’t cleared exam.".Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal appeared for the petitioners.