Last Updated: March 10, 2023, 10:38 AM IST
Candidates are required to pay Rs 7,080 as an application fee to appear for the FMGE (Representative image)
The RTI also revealed that a total of 33,001 candidates applied for the 2022 FMGE exam. The NBEMS rejected 1,058 applications for the medical exam citing ineligibility
A Right To Information (RTI) filed by an activist has revealed that the National Board of Examinations In Medical Sciences (NBEMS) received over Rs 23 crore in the application fee from candidates for the Foreign Medical Graduate Exam (FMGE).
Candidates are required to pay Rs 7,080 as an application fee to appear for the FMGE. This is the highest application fee among all medical entrance exams conducted in India. According to NBEMS, the Foreign Medical Graduate Exam is a screening test for Indian citizens or overseas citizens of India who have received primary medical qualifications from any medical institution abroad and want to practice medicine in India.
In the RTI filed by activist Vivek Pandey, he sought information from the National Board of Examinations regarding the total application fee collected by it through the FMGE exam conducted in January 2023. The reply read, “NBEMS has received a sum of Rs 23,36,75,400 from FMGE candidates.”
The RTI also revealed that a total of 33,001 candidates applied for the 2022 FMGE exam. The NBEMS rejected 1,058 applications for the medical exam citing ineligibility. “Admit card shall not be issued to candidates who are declared ineligible before the conduct of the examination. In such cases, the entire fees will be forfeited,” the reply to the RTI query read.
In January this year, two days before the 2022 FMGE exam was held on January 20, students claimed that around 10,000 applicants for the exam were yet to receive their admit cards. The students had said that the NBE threatened to withhold the FMGE results when they asked the board for clarity about the medical exam.
Some students said they did not receive their FMGE admit cards due to “blurry images and missing documents”. An aggrieved student even claimed that the NBE director threatened the medical aspirants that their results will be denied if anyone spoke against the board. He said students were snubbed and pushed outside the office when they demanded clarity on the matter and sought a reason for not issuing admit cards.
Another student said, “I didn’t get my admit card for FMGE2022 and not any help desk helpline responding to calls or emails, around 10,000 FMGE aspirants have the same problem, please provide admit cards for FMGE 2022 so our months of preparation don’t just go waste.” The 2022 FMGE exam was first scheduled to be held on December 4 but was later postponed to January 20 due to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections.
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