MCI Screening Test Must for All Foreign MBBS Graduates

The Supreme Court has ruled that students with medical degrees from abroad will be allowed to practise in India only if they clear a screening test conducted by the Medical Council of India (MCI). The rule also applies to those with MBBS degrees from countries with whom India has a reciprocity agreement.

The Supreme Court gave the ruling on a plea challenging the test by some students who had got their medical degrees from Nepal. Justifying its order, the SC said some students studying abroad “did not fulfil the minimum eligibility criteria for admission to medical courses in India and serious aberrations had been noticed in the standards of medical education in some countries.

The court also upheld the Medical Council of India's regulation requiring Indians who obtain an MBBS degree from institutes in Nepal to pass a screening test for grant of a Certificate of Registration to practise as doctors in India.

The screening test will also be compulsory for medicos who have a MBBS degree from a country with which India has a reciprocal agreement.

Graduates from Manipal College of Medical Science, Pokhara, and Universal College of Medical Sciences, Bhaiarahawa, will have to sit for the screening test conducted by the Medical Council of India (MCI).