Is the FMGE Exam Failing India’s Future Doctors and Rural Healthcare?

Thiruvananthapuram: Even as the number of doctors in the country continues to decline, the union government has massively failed medical graduates. In the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE), which is the qualifying test for those who earned medical degrees abroad to practice in India, nearly 80% of the candidates failed. Students allege that the exam was manipulated to serve the interests of the medical education mafia.

Only 18.61% cleared the exam conducted in June this year. Last year, the pass rate was 21.6%, and in 2023, it was 13%. Even students with strong academic backgrounds are failing. The National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences is responsible for conducting the exam. The situation has become more controversial due to the board’s failure to publish the question papers or the answer keys, denying students the right to transparency in evaluation or the possibility of reevaluation.

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It is alleged that this mass failure is aimed at pushing students toward private medical colleges. Fearing the FMGE hurdle, students are forced to pay exorbitant capitation fees to study medicine in India. In 2025, 12.36 lakh students qualified in the NEET examination. As most of them prefer foreign universities, the demand for seats in India is falling, making it harder for colleges to demand high capitation fees. Hence, discouraging students from going abroad and ensuring massive failures in FMGE is seen as a deliberate attempt to boost domestic private medical education business.

Are you not listening to the cries from India’s villages?

The union government itself has acknowledged that the shortage of specialist doctors in Indian villages is increasing. Reports from various states indicate that about 80% of required doctors are lacking. The worst shortages are in BJP-ruled states like Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. The dire state of rural healthcare was revealed in the Union Health Ministry’s "Health Dynamics of India 2022–23" report.

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