How rules operate differently for foreign, Indian MBBS graduates
The National Board of Examinations in India has defended its strict qualifying standards for foreign medical graduates while noting that cut-offs for domestic NEET-PG exams have been lowered to fill vacant seats. The article highlights the disparity in licensing and entrance requirements for medical professionals.
Why it matters
This highlights the ongoing debate regarding medical education standards and the integration of foreign-trained doctors into the domestic healthcare system.
NEW DELHI: The National Board of Examinations (NBE) has ruled out lowering the pass percentage for foreign medical graduates (FMGs), saying that “qualifying standards cannot be diluted”.However, when it comes to NEET-PG, the centralised entrance exam taken by almost all Indian medical graduates, the qualifying cut-off has been significantly reduced over the past five years.In NEET PG, percentile cut-off is used, whereas to qualify in FMGE,candidates have to score 50%.The initial cut-off for NEET PG in each of these years has been 50th percentile for the general category, which has been equivalent to roughly 35% marks, and 40th percentile for reserved category, equivalent to about 30%.However, for the sake of filling vacant seats, the cut-off percentile has been reduced every year.It was dropped to zero percentile in 2023 for all categories, which meant that everyone who wrote the exam was deemed qualified including those with negative marks.In 2024, it was…
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