Vijayawada: Foreign Medical Graduates (FMGs) in Andhra Pradesh have entered the fourth day of a
hunger strike, protesting against the Andhra Pradesh Medical Council’s (APMC) continued
refusal to issue permanent registrations for more than one year despite the
students having fully complied with the guidelines set by the National Medical
Commission (NMC).
The protest reflects the frustration and
despair of qualified young doctors who are now unable to practice
medicine in their home state. The FMGs alleged that the APMC registrar is ignoring official NMC guidelines and creating unofficial obstacles to deny them
their professional licenses.
Several of the protesting
graduates highlighted that, although they have cleared all required
examinations and met all eligibility criteria as mandated by the NMC, they
remain blocked from joining the healthcare workforce.
Posting a video of the
ongoing protest on a social media platform, All FMGs Association has stated, “In
this country, if you demand justice, you are forcefully silenced. FMGs from
Andhra Pradesh, after completing their internships, have been denied permanent
registration by the APMC Registrar for months. And now, look at what’s
happening when someone peacefully raises their voice, the police force has come. They’ve
been on a hunger strike for the past 36 hours. Let’s not forget, today is
Doctors’ Day, and this is the condition of doctors in India.”
Previously, Medical
Dialogues reported that the foreign medical graduates from Andhra Pradesh staged a protest at the APMC office in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, alleging
that they were being asked to undergo additional internship years, despite not
being required to do the same under the National Medical Commission’s rules. Another
issue that the FMGs have highlighted is that they have not been issued their
permanent registration even though they have completed their internship in
May 2024.
Speaking to Medical Dialogues, one of the members, the All Foreign Medical Graduate Association (AFA) informed that the medicos had submitted a detailed representation to the authorities, raising
several pressing concerns. Their demands included the acceptance of old
compensation certificates for PRs (Permanent Registration), reversal of
arbitrarily extended two- and three-year internship requirements not in line
with NMC rules, and withdrawal of APMC’s March 2025 circular that applied a
10-year rule retroactively. They also sought immediate PR issuance for students
who participated in the May and November 2023 counselling rounds and urged
recognition of India-based internships by the NMC’s March 2022
circular. The association also demanded that APMC refrain from introducing its own rules. “The police came as well and forcefully asked students to vacate the place of their peaceful protest,” stated the doctor.
Despite these demands and the fact that some of the other state councils have already acted on similar issues,
the APMC has remained reluctant. FMGs have voiced deep frustration over the
imposition of extra-duration internships, which they say are being enforced inconsistently
and without justification. The FMG internship is applicable to medical graduates from abroad who are residents of Andhra Pradesh. Allegedly, they were being asked to undergo three years of internship for undergoing online classes during the pandemic. However, the FMGs have claimed that they have compensated for their online training, and last year NMC specified that FMGs who have sufficient compensated classes in physical mode for their online classes and thereafter passed the FMGE test, would be eligible to get permanent registration after undergoing internship for one year only.
During General Body
Meetings held in May and June 2025, the APMC formally resolved to adopt the NMC
norms, accept compensation letters, and exempt qualified FMGs from the
controversial 10-year rule. Yet, these decisions have not translated into
action, and PRs remain undelivered. With no resolution in sight and the strike
entering its fourth day, the situation remains tense.
