In what seems like a significant move, the Philippines has suggested a policy change that is likely to benefit Indian medical students pursuing their MBBS in the country. A recent amendment to the Philippine Medical Act of 1959 if approved by the House of Representatives, will pave the way for Indian students and other international students to register and practise medicine in the Philippines.
Under the proposed provision, Indian students who complete their Doctor of Medicine degree from a Philippine College of Medicine recognised by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), along with a 12-month internship, will be eligible to register and practise medicine in the Philippines. The CHED will issue the necessary certification to facilitate this process, ensuring a smooth transition for Indian graduates.
Since the policy is still in the approval stages, Indian medical students studying in the Philippines will have to keep their fingers crossed to overcome the barriers that had earlier plagued students of their ilk in the past. It remains to be seen if Indian students who have completed their MD (graduate/primary medical course being equivalent to MBBS) can, after completing their internship and getting the license to practise in the Philippines be able to appear for FMGE and in later years NExT as the case may be, to pursue their medical education and practise in India. Discussing the implications of the initiative, Dr B Srinivas, secretary, National Medical Commission (NMC), says, “The policy is still in the proposal stages and once it becomes an act, the NMC will examine the medical curriculum and its duration. It will also assess whether the curriculum follows the same quality parameters as the Indian medical system. Since medical colleges in India are inspected from time to time, it becomes imperative for them to give in writing the number of faculty and infrastructural facilities. Unfortunately, the same rule cannot be applied to medical colleges overseas. Only if there is parity in the MBBS curriculum between the two countries, the facilitation measures to enable the foreign medical graduates (FMGs) to appear for FMGE will be considered.” Even the older FMGs from the Philippines who had gone retrospectively, and are pursuing medical education in India, are required to undergo two years of internships to ensure they are clinically sound since exposing Indian patients to half-baked knowledge would be harmful to them, Dr Srinivas says.
Earlier regulations
In the past, the Medical Council of India (MCI) had allowed students to pursue medical education in the Philippines, but with the NMC issuing the Foreign Medical Graduate Licentiate (FMGL) Regulations 2021 that mandated individuals, who pursue a foreign medical degree, to undergo a course of theory, practical and clinical training equivalent to a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) in India, the students’ were left wondering about their future. The NMC also clarified that the students should have completed an internship of 12 months in the same foreign institution where the primary medical qualification has been obtained.
Further, the NMC issued an advisory in 2022 that said Bachelor of Science (BS) and MD courses are two separate degrees in the Philippines and the BS course cannot be equated with the MBBS in India; hence, after the publication of the gazette notification dated November 18, 2021, the students who already sought admission to any foreign medical qualification/course not equivalent to MBBS course in India, could not be considered as eligible to practise medicine in India.
The advisory, as per an earlier Education Times report, stated that the BS is for candidates seeking to join courses in the field of Science and Research in the Philippines and it comprises subjects similar to those taught in classes XI and XII in India. The BS course is the pre-medical course in the Philippines, after the completion of which the candidates must appear in the National Medical Admission Test (NMAT) to seek admission in the MD course (graduate/primary medical course being equivalent to MBBS). Most parents were assured by the authorities that the FMGL 2021 regulations would be applied prospectively, however, it was found that the rules were being applied retrospectively which impacted students who went to study BS in the Philippines before the FMGL regulations were announced.
“Almost 10,000 Indian medical students in the Philippines got affected by the retrospective implementation of the FMGL regulation on BS students. Many of them already left their education in between due to the long confusion but the ones who continued will be the beneficiaries if the new scheme finds acceptance,” says Anuj Goyal, co-founder, Get My University.
Evidently, the MD course in the Philippines is of 48 months duration, while the MBBS in India takes over 54 months. The NMC had stipulated that a license to practise in the country from where Indian students pursued MBBS would be mandatory to practise medicine in India.
Possible outcomes
“After the FMGL Regulations 2021, the Philippines is the only country where a consensus was achieved among all the stakeholders of medical education, that is, CHED, PRC (Professional Regulation Commission) and medical colleges to make necessary amendments to open the doors for international medical aspirants. Under the new amendments, the following proposals are suggested: Consider NEET as an eligible exam for admission in medicine instead of the NMAT exam which will make the whole BS+MD an integrated programme; the total duration of the medicine programme will be 6 years with 5 years of medical education and 12 months of rotating internship; removal of the reciprocity clause which will enable the MD (Medicine) student eligible to write the Physician Licensure Examination (PLE),” says Goyal.
He further states that Philippines has a robust medical education system with the highest FMGE pass results from which already thousands of Indian students are practising in India. “The recent development, if implemented, will give respite to the existing students and will open opportunities for fresh students who were waiting since last 3 years to be a part of the Philippines education system.