India issues advisory for medical aspirants seeking to study in China

India has issued a detailed advisory for prospective students wanting to study medicine in China, cautioning them of the pitfalls, including poor pass percentage, mandatory learning of official spoken language Putonghua and stringent norms to qualify to practice in India. The advisory was issued as thousands of Indians studying in Chinese medical colleges are currently stuck at home for over two years due to Beijing's COVID visa ban.

According to official estimates, over 23,000 Indian students are currently enrolled in various Chinese universities. A vast majority of them are medical students. After over two years of COVID visa restrictions, China has recently started issuing visas to a selected number of students to return. However, most of them struggled to return as there are no direct flights and the two countries are still in talks to work out limited flight facilities keeping in view Beijing's quarantine restrictions.

The Chinese medical colleges, meanwhile, began enrolment for new students from India and abroad. Against this backdrop, the Indian Embassy in Beijing issued a comprehensive advisory on Thursday for students from India wanting to study medicine in China. The advisory has results of the studies, which outlined difficulties faced by Indian students in China and the stringent norms they face to qualify for practicing medicine in India. A striking feature of the advisory is that only 16 percent of the students passed the required test between 2015 and 2021 to qualify to practice in India.

Only 6,387 out of 40,417 students who appeared in the FMG (Foreign Medical Graduate) Examination of the Medical Council of India (MCI) from 2015 to 2021 have cleared it. The pass percentage of Indian students who have studied clinical medicine programmes in China in that period in 45 accredited universities was only 16 per cent, the advisory underlined. "The prospective students and parents may please note this fact while deciding on seeking admission in Chinese universities for clinical medicine programme," it said. On the costs, it said the fee structure is different for different universities and advised students to check from the university directly before taking admission. The advisory listed 45 medical colleges designated by the Chinese government to provide medical degrees in five-year duration plus a one-year internship.

Indian students are advised not to seek admission other than those 45 colleges.

The advisory also highlighted that Indian students studying medicine in China have to obtain a license to practice in the country where they obtained the degree. After completion of the internship, students have to clear the Chinese Medical qualification examination and obtain a physician qualification certificate to practice in China, the advisory said. It is important to clear the qualification exam to practice in India as the "NMC (National Medical Commission) regulations dated November 18, 2021 state that any prospective student who seeks medical education abroad should necessarily have a license to practice in the country of a graduate after completion of his/her clinical medicine programme, before he/she can appear for FMG examination in India,'' it said.

Also, the Indian students who are interested in taking a medical qualification from China are required to clear the NEET-UG (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Undergraduate) exam, which is the entry examination for undergraduate medical education in India, as a prerequisite to pursue medical education abroad, the advisory said. "Only those students who clear the NEET-UG for admission to undergraduate medical education in India will be eligible to appear for the screening test, namely, the Foreign Medical Graduates Exam (FMGE)," it said.