MCI slams move to exempt 145;Russian146; docs

The Medical Council of India MCI has come out against the Government8217;s decision to exempt over 3,000 doctors, who have done their MBB...

The Medical Council of India MCI has come out against the Government8217;s decision to exempt over 3,000 doctors, who have done their MBBS in CIS countries of the former Soviet Union, from passing a screening test for practicing in India.

In a 14-page affidavit filed on Wednesday before the Supreme Court, the Medical Council of India, which is a statutory body regulating medical education and profession, said the Health Ministry8217;s new stand taken in February 8216;8216;would not be beneficial to public interest8217;8217;.

The Government had earlier told the court that its decision to waive the screening test for 8216;8216;Russian doctors8217;8217;, as they are loosely called, was made after exploring all legal avenues 8216;8216;to see if the human problem can be solved8217;8217;.

The 8216;8216;human problem8217;8217; was that barely 11 per cent of these doctors had cleared the screening test, introduced in March 2002 as a safeguard against deteriorating standards of medical education in CIS countries.

But when the affected candidates had challenged the legality of the screening test before the Supreme Court on a procedural matter, the Government had rubbished their contention in January 2003 as 8216;8216;a hyper technical ground8217;8217;.

The Medical Council of India said: 8216;8216;There is neither any occasion nor any justification, much less any legal deficiency, in seeking to defer the strict enforcement of the screening test regulations.8217;8217;

It said if the waiver proposed by the Government was accepted, 8216;8216;the net result would be that the enforcement of the screening test would be required to be shifted further by at least two years, thereby permitting more than 5,000 candidates to start practice of medicine without qualifying the screening test.8217;8217;

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The Medical Council of India said that in 1994 it had recommended a more drastic action of derecognising medical qualifications granted in Russia and other CIS countries. After sitting on the Medical Council of India8217;s recommendation for four years, the Government settled for the screening test as an option. But it took another four years to bring into force the screening test regulations in March 2002.

When the petition challenging the screening test came up for hearing yesterday before a bench headed by Chief Justice V.N. Khare, the Government sought time to respond to the Medical Council of India8217;s affidavit. The case is posted for April 13.