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The Supreme Court on Monday sought the response of the Central government and the National Medical Commission (NMC) on a petition filed by 70 China-educated medical graduates challenging a circular that retrospectively made a two-year internship mandatory [Gurmukh Singh and ors vs National Medical Commission and ors].
A bench of Justices BR Gavai and Vikram Nath issued notice in the matter.
The Supreme Court is currently also seized of a batch of petitions filed by Indian medical students studying in Ukraine, China, Philippines etc. seeking to continue their education in India.
On November 29, the Court had segregated the pleas of the China-based graduates from the others as these students had to resort to online education in the wake of the COVID pandemic, and not because of any war-like situation like in Ukraine.
The present plea, filed through advocate Gopal Singh, raised grievance with a public notice dated July 28, 2022 specifying that foreign medical graduates who graduated on or before June 30 that year have to undergo a two-year Compulsory Rotating Medical Internship (CRMI) to make up for any incomplete clinical training abroad.
The petitioners highlighted that while they had completed their MBBS education from China in 2020, the CRMI rule is now being made applicable to them as well, leading to various State Medical Councils revoking certificates needed for their medical practice.
The NMC’s actions are contrary to the principles of equity and fair play as well as the doctrine of legitimate expectations, it was stressed. The plea said that while the notice reads prospectively, it is being applied retrospectively.
The rules of the game were changed after the process began, the petitioners argued.
“Fundamental rights of the petitioners under Article 14, 19 and 21 are being violated due to the manifestly arbitrary actions of the respondents as additional practical obligations are being imposed on a retrospective basis … [the notice] directly disentitles qualified doctors from joining the mainstream and indirectly creates a sub-optimal situation vis-à-vis the already strained national medical infrastructure”, the petition stated.
The plea further contended that the petitioners are not on the same plane as other foreign medical graduates seeking relaxations on account of the closure of universities in 2020-2021, but rather at a ‘vastly superior pedestal‘.
It was also submitted that the petitioners have completed most of their course offline and even enrolled as practitioners during the COVID pandemic. The present writ petitioners have completed most of their course offline and have undergone only a minimal number of hours of online training due to COVID disruptions, the plea added.
” … most of these petitioners have performed their task beyond the call of duty including but not limited to serving internship during the second and third wave of Covid. They have doubled up as first line of medical defence and first responders during a time when the National medical infrastructure was under severe strain,” the petition further stated.
The petitioners’ go on to argue that ruling in the students’ favour would benefit the respondents as a large pool of doctors would ensue. This would help address the skewed doctor-patient ratio in India and improve the outreach of medical services, it was submitted.
The current state of things might mean that the petitioners are barred from appearing for postgraduate competitive exams like NEET, the plea added.
The petition also emphasised that the respondents are barred by the estoppel principle as the graduates have acted in compliance of laid-out norms.
Further, in the present circumstances, it is even possible for the petitioners to return to their respective universities in China for further studies, it was pointed out.
The petitioners, therefore, urged the top Court to quash the NMC notice, and restore or grant their licenses to practice. The petitioners also prayed for a direction that no further impediments of such nature be allowed with respect to their careers.
Advocates Shivam Singh and Shaswati Parhi appeared for the petitioners.
