MCI recognises foreign degrees of 500 docs, incl 70 Pak Hindus
After years of inaction, the Medical Council of India (MCI) has finally recognised the foreign degrees of around 500 doctors, including 70 Hindus of Pakistani origin, and allowed them to practice in the country.
According to sources, the MCI Board of Governors cleared the pending cases of those doctors who had obtained their degrees from abroad but were not recognised in India and thus were not allowed to practice.
The sources say that among these were around 70 Hindus from Pakistan who had done their MBBS from Pakistan's Sindh, Karachi and Punjab provinces and had migrated to India in the 1990s, but were not allowed to practice in India as their degrees were not recognised by the MCI.
"They had to flee Pakistan for their safety in view of bad situation there and migrated to India and applied for the citizenship here," said a senior official. Such Pakistani- origin Hindus are now Indian citizens after they applied for the same prior to 2002, as per Indian rules.
With their cases pending for many years, the MCI Board finally allowed them to practice in India after recognising and registering their MBBS degrees obtained from Pakistan.
Their Pakistani degrees were recognised by the WHO and names of the institutes from where they obtained their MBBS degrees were also listed internationally.
Confirming the move, a secior MCI official said the action comes in line with the Health Ministry's statement before the Supreme Court that all Pakistani doctors seeking migration to India before March 15, 2002 be exempted from the Screening Regulation Test, which is mandatory for other foreign doctors.
The MCI has also cleared all pending cases of Indians possessing foreign MBBS degrees. Some of these cases have been pending for almost a decade. Sources said most of these cases were involving doctors who had not completed the MBBS course from one country alone, and had done half the course from India and the remaining from institutions in other nations.
Many such cases pertained to Indian students who had obtained their degrees from countries like Netherlands, Seychelles, Tanzania and Philippines. With their foreign degrees now recognised and registered by the Medical Council of India, all such doctors have now been allowed to practice in India.
Incidentally, the government has now made it clear in its rules that for any medical degree to be recognised and registered for practice in the country, the persons should complete his/her MBBS course from one country only.
