Philippine Medical Act amendment bill brings hope to Indian medical students

Team Bharat Education | Published on: Dec 23, 2024 Views: 103

The amendment bill for the Philippine Medical Act, 1959 was recently passed in the lower house-House of Representatives in the Philippines  with a majority of vote counts (184-3-0) and now awaits clearance at the upper house Senate which is mandatory for it to become an act. The amendment bill allows foreign nationals to practise locally under the condition of reciprocity or by qualifying Physicians Licensure Examination (PLE). This has brought hope to several Indian medical students in the Philippines, as this will allow them to return to India as practising doctors after passing the Foreign Medical Graduate Exam (FMGE). But students will have to wait for the NMC to respond officially to the change. The amendment bill will be presented in the upper house in January 2025. Indian medical aspirants planning to move to the Philippines for affordable medical education are keeping their fingers crossed. This also depends on the NMC which will make the final decision after the bill is passed.

Curriculum parity

NMC had clarified BS and MD courses are two separate degrees in the Philippines, which cannot be equated with the MBBS course in India. Dr B Srinivas, secretary, NMC says, India will examine the medical curriculum and duration of the programme. We will assess whether the curriculum follows the same quality parameters as the Indian medical system. Only if there is parity in the MBBS curriculum between the two countries, the facilitation measures to enable the FMGs to appear for FMGE will be considered.

Stranded careers

On November 18, 2021, the NMC introduced the FMGL Regulations, 2021. The regulations outlined the requirements for FMGs seeking to practise in India. Following this, on December 8, 2021, the Embassy of India in Manila issued an advisory which highlighted that only students who were admitted for the Doctor of Medicine (MD) course in the Philippines before November 18, 2021, would be considered eligible for registration to practise medicine in India after passing FMGE. The advisory further clarified that the NMC has now formally confirmed that the bridging BS course (equivalent to premed in the US) of 1.5-2 years before the MD course will not be included in calculating the total duration of the medical course.

A second year MD student from Maharashtra studying at Emilio Aguinaldo College, Manila, Philippines says, There are around 500 Indian students in my university alone, and some larger universities have thousands of Indian students pursuing medical courses. If the Philippine Congress enacts this amendment into law, it will significantly benefit the students. However, their future depends on the NMCs decision. We hope that the NMC grants a one time exemption for students who enrolled in BS Biology or similar premedical courses as a pathway to the MD programme before November 18, 2021.

Published on: Education Times

Date: 23.12.2024