Coronavirus brings to focus prospects of Chinese MBBS courses

The massive flow of MBBS aspirants from India, especially southern states like Kerala, to China has come to focus again as all the three novel coronavirus cases reported in India so far were Malayali medical students in China.

Easy admission procedures and less fee continue to attract MBBS aspirants to China, even as only around 20 to 30 per cent of foreign medical graduates could clear the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination. While it would require more than Rs 75 lakh to Rs one crore for medical courses at private colleges in Kerala, in China, it would in the range of Rs 25 to Rs 40 lakhs. There are also no stringent entrance tests to the 45 MCI approved medical institutions, most of them at Wuhan.

According to consultants providing admissions for Indian students to Chinese medical institutions, the number of India students in China during 2015 was around 13,000. It reached around 23,000 now, of which about 21,000 were pursuing medical education. A major chuck of students come from South Indian states like Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.

All India Foreign Medical Graduates Association president Dr A Najeerul Ameen said that while Russia was earlier the most sought after destination for foreign MBBS aspirants from India, over the last few years China emerged as the leading destination. It is estimated that about 8,000 Indian students were now seeking admission to medical courses in China annually, a major chunk of which were from Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. Foreign medical aspirants from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka were found to be generally opting for destinations like Russia and the Philippines.

During 2019, around 16,500 foreign MBBS graduates who took the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination. Of this only 27 per cent could clear the examination, he said.

Geetha N, the mother of a Malayali medical student in China, said that the FMGE was deliberately being made tough to help students who pass out from private medical colleges in India.

Dr Ameen said that the proposed National Exit Test as a screening test for all MBBS graduates would be a relief for the discrimination that the foreign medical graduates faced in India.

With the corona outbreak, there are concerns among the consultants that the prospects of Chinese MBBS courses might suffer a setback. Students who are currently undergoing medical education in China were also quite concerned about the future.