The judgment for a petition, demanding no NEET qualification for MBBS aspirants planning to study medicine abroad is pending before the High Court of Delhi. The final hearing is expected to take place on August 31, 2018.
MBBS without NEET: Yes or No?
If the hearing goes in favour of the petitioner, MBBS aspirations, who did not clear NEET this year, can enrol in overseas MBBS colleges without any constraints.
Less than 60,000 medical seats in India
Saju Bhaskar, President of Texila American University, an overseas university based in the Caribbean, said,”Many students may lose the chance of enrolling for MBBS this year as they have not qualified NEET. There are less than 60,000 medical seats in India including both government and private medical colleges.”
The reason behind why students go abroad to study medicine:
Lack of seats in India
Cost effective education fees
An opportunity to practice abroad with better pay packages
He further added, “Many students will lose a year or more if NEET qualification remains the deciding criteria for pursing MBBS in abroad.”
What can a foreign medical graduate do after returning to India?
It is to be noted that once a foreign medical graduate returns to India to practice as a doctor, he will have to go through a stringent process of clearing FMGE exam. Once he clears it, he can practice as a doctor in India.
“There is no need to have so many levels of knowledge test screenings. If FMGE is mandatory for foreign medical graduates then there should be no need for them to qualify for NEET exam to study abroad. Students will be left with no choice but to waste years in the hope for clearing NEET or drop their dreams of becoming doctors,” says Radhika Madan, a MBBS final year student studying in a college in Russia.