₹2 lakh internship fee waived for foreign medical graduates: Health Minister

They will now have to pay only ₹30,000 to the Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical University for the internship

Health Minister Ma. Subramanian on Friday said the State government had decided to waive the ₹2 lakh to be paid by foreign medical graduates towards internship in medical colleges in Tamil Nadu. They will now have to pay only ₹30,000 to the Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical University for the internship.

The Minister said that usually, foreign medical graduates had to pay ₹3.20 lakh to the university and ₹2 lakh to the Health Department for the Compulsory Rotating Medical Internship.

Many foreign medical graduates made representations that they had studied medicine abroad in the midst of difficulties, and found it hard to pay the fee for the internship. “They were repeatedly demanding that the fees be reduced. Based on their request, we have reduced the fee to be paid to the university from ₹3.20 lakh to ₹30,000, and have decided to waive the ₹2 lakh to be paid to the Health Department,” he told reporters in Chennai.

Following a representation from Tamil Nadu, the National Medical Commission (NMC) had given its nod to admit foreign medical graduates, who were waiting to take up internships, to the 11 new government medical colleges in the State, the Minister said.

“We have already made a demand to NMC to increase the intake of foreign medical graduates for internship from 7.5% to 20%, as many of them have been waiting for a long time. We made another demand to permit us to post them to the 11 new government medical colleges as house surgeons,” he said.

The Union government had given its nod to post the foreign medical graduates to the 11 new medical colleges, he said, adding, “A total of 521 foreign medical graduates have applied and are waiting for the internship. These students would be posted to the 11 new medical colleges immediately. The remaining students who are waiting for internships could apply immediately to the Directorate of Medical Education (DME).”

Hassles in the application process had been done away with. Earlier, students had to visit the Secretariat, the medical college and the university, he said, adding, “The process has been simplified. The students could now approach the DME.”