With NEET postponed, Bengal medical aspirants left in the lurch

Kolkata: As the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) — the nationwide medical entrance examination is being deferred by the Centre due to Covid pandemic, there has been a growing trend among the medical aspirants from Bengal and many other states to move to a foreign country for a medical degree despite the fact that around 85 per cent Indians with foreign medical degrees fail to clear Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE) every year after they return home.

FMGE is a screening test conducted by the National Board of Examination (NBE) which offers the doctors with a foreign degree license to practice in India. The pass percentage is however pitiably low but there has been a mad rush of candidates to visit abroad. Even the huge financial involvement fails to deter them from going to other countries even if for most of these candidates the money goes in vain.

As per the available data, the highest pass percentage was registered by the students having degrees from Bangladesh (27 per cent) and Philippines (25 per cent) in the past few years. NBE conducts the FMGE twice each year. Most of the Indian students move to China and Russia to study medicine, not many manage to pass FMGE.

The pass percentage of students graduating from China and Russia is only around 11 per cent and 12 per cent respectively, an expert in the field said, quoting NBE data.

As the Centre owned National Testing Agency (NTA) has deferred the NEET on a number of occasions in the past due to pandemic and finally fixing the date on September 13 many are trying their options in foreign countries as they might close the selection process before September 13. Some medical aspirants who are not confident about their success in the NEET prefer to pursue a course from outside the country completely forgetting that a foreign degree may not be able to secure a license from Indian government.

"What is the most striking here is that a huge amount of Indian currency is going to foreign countries every year and therefore contributing to their economy. Even most of the candidates who spend a huge amount of money for obtaining a medical degree from the foreign universities fail to secure a license to practice in Indian. The Centre must formulate some policy in this regard especially to check the drain of wealth," said Dr A.K Maity who is an expert in the field of medical education in the country.

Around 17,504 medical aspirants from across the country went abroad to study MBBS in 2019. As many as 14,118 candidates moved to various foreign countries in 2018 to get a medical degree.

The number stood at 8,737 in 2017 while in 2016 the total number of students who went outside the country stood at 3,398.

The data shows that there has been a growing trend among the aspirants to go abroad mostly to the Asian countries for a medical degree.