Health Minister Ma. Subramanian on Tuesday told the Legislative Assembly that an order of the Supreme Court had come in the way of providing internship [CRMI] in Indian medical colleges to students who had studied medicine in China and the Philippines.
Responding to Tamizhaga Vazhvurimai Katchi founder ‘Panruti’ Velmurugan, who raised the issue of internships, the Minister said Chief Minister M.K. Stalin had not only written to the Centre, but also had taken up the issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his recent visit to New Delhi. These students were denied internship since they studied medical courses online from the two countries.
The Minister expressed hope that there would be a way out and the Centre would also increase the percentage of internship to 20, as requested by the Chief Minister.
Mr. Subramanian explained that though the Madras High Court favoured granting internship to these students because they studied online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Supreme Court granted a stay since the Centre had filed an affidavit against the internship.
He said as per procedure, the students had to write the Foreign Medical Graduates Examination (FMGE), followed by the Compulsory Rotating Medical Internship (CRMI) after their registration with the Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical University.
“But the internship offered to students who studied in foreign medical colleges was reduced to 7.5% from 10%. There are 36 medical colleges and we could admit only 384 students. The Chief Minister immediately wrote to the Centre, urging it to increase the percentage to 20. Since it failed to materialise, he met the Prime Minister and pressed the issue,” Mr. Subramanian said.
He said a total of 1,010 students could do their internship if the Centre increased the internship offered to 20%.
