No further internship necessary for medical graduates who completed internship in foreign country of study: Kerala High Court

Medical graduates who have completed internship in the foreign country where they qualified as medical practitioners, cannot be compelled to do further Compulsory Rotatory Residential Internship (CRRI) in India in order to be eligible to practice medicine here provided they satisfy other qualification criteria, the Kerala High Court ruled. .Single judge Justice PB Suresh Kumar directed the State Medical Commission to grant permanent registration to the petitioner after noting that she satisfied all the requirements as per existing statutory provisions."The fact that the petitioner has obtained a medical qualification granted by a medical institution in a country outside India recognised for enrolment as medical practitioner in that country and the fact that she has cleared the Screening Test are not in dispute. Similarly, the fact that the petitioner has completed one year internship after acquiring the primary medical qualification is also not in dispute. If that be so, according to me, the State Medical Council is obliged to grant permanent registration to the petitioner and they cannot insist that the petitioner shall undergo CRRI for the said purpose," the judgment statedHowever, the Court clarified that the Council is free to approach the National Medical Commission in order to bring in appropriate statutory amendments for insisting on internship for diseases and treatments peculiar to the State."It is made clear that this judgment will not preclude the State Medical Council from bringing to the notice of the National Medical Commission the requirement, if any, for the foreign medical graduates to undergo internship afresh to get acclimatised with the diseases and requirements of treatment peculiar to the State in order to bring in force appropriate statutory amendments," the Court clarified.The Court judgment was passed on a petition filed by one Sadhiya Siyad, an Indian Citizen who graduated from the Dubai Medical College for Girls in 2019.During the course of her studies, in 2017, she obtained Eligibility Certificate as required under Section 13(4B) of the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 (IMC Act) in order to become eligible to seek medical qualification from a medical institution abroad.After she completed her course, she underwent one year internship in various teaching hospitals in Dubai and obtained a registration to practice medicine there in 2020 Meanwhile, in June, 2019, she cleared the Screening Test in terms of Section 13(4A) of the IMC Act in order to become eligible to be enrolled in a State Medical Register in India as well..With a view to practice medicine in the State of Kerala, the petitioner preferred an application to the State Medical Council for provisional registration. However, the State Medical Council directed the petitioner to file an affidavit stating, among others, that the provisional registration will not be used by her for any purpose other than doing Compulsory Rotatory Residential Internship (CRRI).The petitioner, represented by advocate Santhosh Mathew, contended that on the strength of the medical qualification obtained by the petitioner from the medical institution abroad, including by undergoing internship and her qualification in the Screening Test, she is entitled to practice medicine in India.Therefore, she approached the Court seeking a direction to the State Medical Council to grant permanent registration to practice medicine in the State. .However, the counter affidavit filed by the State Medical Council stated that CRRI in any one of the medical institutions approved by the Medical Council of India is mandatory for foreign medical graduates before granting permanent registration to them in terms of the decision taken by the State Medical Council in 2017.This was done in order to ensure that they gain clinical experience and exposure to the cultural, clinical and epidemiological and profile of local community; that they learn about the unique public health care and delivery and referral system prevailing in the country and that they gain experience about the national and State health intervention programs to counter the unique health challenges, the affidavit said. .After deliberations from both sides of the Bar over the course of several elaborate hearings, the Court considered, among others, the pertinent question of "whether a person who obtains a medical qualification from a medical institution abroad and undertakes one year internship thereafter in the country of education and satisfies all other eligibility criteria for enrolment on a State Medical Register be insisted to undergo CRRI for the said purpose?".The Court observed that Section 13(4A) of the IMC Act provides that a person who obtains medical qualification granted by any medical institution in any country outside India recognised for enrolment as medical practitioner in that country is entitled to be enrolled on a State Medical Register if he/she clears the screening test. The Court found that, as per existing statutory provisions, the petitioner had obtained all the necessary qualifications and satisfied all the conditions to be granted permanent registration with the State Medical Council. The Court, therefore, directed the same be done within a period of two months with the caveat that the Council may persuade .[Read Judgment]