CBI unearths Foreign Medical Graduate racket
STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has conducted searches at around 91 premises of certain state Medical Councils as well as Foreign Medical Graduates (FMGs) in connection with allegations of irregularities in registration of Foreign Medical Graduates with Medical Councils in several states on the basis of fake certificates of qualifying Foreign Medical Graduates Examination (FMGE) conducted by National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS).
The CBI registered a case on December 21 last against unknown public servants of State Medical Councils and MCI, 73 Foreign Medical Graduates and other unknown public servants/private persons after it received a complaint from a senior functionary of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare that as many as 73 Foreign Medical Graduates, who had actually failed to qualify the mandatory qualifying examination (FMGE), still managed to get themselves registered with the Medical Councils in several states.
Interestingly, as many as 20 of the Foreign Medical Graduates concerned had obtained fake certificates from the Assam Medical Council.
CBI sources said that the places where the searches were carried out included Guwahati, Tezpur, Imphal, Sikkim, Delhi, Chandigarh, Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Bhatinda, Khanna, Karnal, Sawaimadhopur, Narvana, Hamirpur, Shimla, Jammu, Srinagar, Dehradun, Ghaziabad, Rajpur, Patna, Munger, Mumbai, Jaipur, Sikar, Vijayawada, Warangal, Tirunelveli, Madurai, Bhopal, Nagpur, Buldana, Pune, Jalgaon, Dharbhanga, Bhagalpur, Champaran, Begusarai, Bokaro, Vizag, Hajipur, Vaishali, Nalanda etc.
The CBI sources informed that the searches led to the recovery of several incriminating documents, including fake pass certificates of the FMGE.
It is pertinent to mention that the FMGE is conducted by the NBEMS to mandatorily screen Foreign Medical Graduates before they are given provisional or permanent registration under the State Medical Councils or erstwhile MCI (Medical Council of India).
The CBI sources said that registration on such fake certificates enabled the candidates to practice independently or secure jobs with hospitals across the country, adding that the investigation is continuing.
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