The struggles with Foreign Medical Graduates (FMGs) in Andhra Pradesh seem to continue as the process of issuing Permanent Registrations (PRs) seems to be slow despite the Andhra Pradesh High Court’s directives. They have been waiting for this for the last 18 months.
On July 9, the High Court passed an order directing the Andhra Pradesh Medical Council (APMC) to grant PR to plaintiff K. Vamsi in a month. Although APMC filed a review petition, the court dismissed it. Subsequently, the complainant filed a contempt petition against APMC for not granting him a PR.
“Recently we tried to reach K. Vamsi, but he does not seem to be interested in running for PR,” said APMC chairman D. Sreehari Rao. Asked why the process was not started sooner, he said the council was awaiting the National Medical Commission’s (NMC) response to several queries.
While the reply is yet to come, the board is proceeding with the process after NMC counsel S. Vivek Chandra Sekhar submitted an explanation during the hearing of the case on October 15.
Despite the council’s claim that the process has begun, FMG are not holding out much hope for a solution yet. “The board has not yet issued any public notice that those who fall under the K. Vamsi category have been granted PR. How can we trust them,” asked a student on condition of anonymity.
Many FMGs recently filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court for justice in this matter. However, citing an August 7 letter from the NMC signed by NMC Secretary Raghav Langer, the APMC wrote to the FMGs that they should undergo a two-year internship as they had not received “equivalent face-to-face training to compensate for their online study time in India”.
But according to sources in the NMC, if an FMG stayed in India for nine months and attended online courses, he “does not have to” stay at the parent university for an equivalent period to be eligible for the one-year internship. Any physical hours missed during the nine months can be made up in two or three months, depending on the student’s ability.
All these FMGs returned to India during part of their MBBS studies during the pandemic. They passed the foreign medical post-graduate examination, attended the counseling organized by APMC and completed the internship allotted to them. When some of them went to the council’s PR collection office, they were told to do another year of internship, according to FMG.
On 19 June 2024, the NMC published a public notice stating that those who had returned to their parent universities abroad to complete their studies and “adequately compensate” the hours of clinical training should be awarded a one-year placement.
“The phrase ‘adequate compensation’ created a lot of confusion for us. That caused the delay,” said Mr Sreehari Rao. The council still insists that FMGs must have completed “equivalent training” classes to be eligible for a year’s internship.
However, students point to what other states are following. “When other states follow one rule, why should AP follow another? While our batchmates in other states have completed their placements, received PR and are continuing their studies, we are stuck fighting for justice,” said another FMG.
Recently the fresh batch of 32 FMGs filed another written application and this came up for hearing on 11th November and was further sent on 18th November. While the chairman said that the process of issuing PRs to others will soon begin, uncertainty remains in the hearts of FMG.
“Many of us fall under the category of K. Vamsi. If APMC intends to grant PR to others, it should issue a public notice. We cannot trust the council yet,” say a group of FMGs, all of whom wanted to protect their identities.
Published – 16 Nov 2025 20:09 IST
