The Court in Aravinth R.A. vs Secretary To Government Of India Ministry Of Health And Family Welfare upheld the validity of Regulations 4(a)(i), 4(a)(ii), 4(b) & 4(c) of the National Medical Commission (Foreign Medical Graduate Licentiate) Regulations 2021, Schedule II 2(a) and 2(c)(i) of the National Medical Commission (Compulsory Rotating Medical Internship) Regulations, 2021.
The Court also held that National Medical Commission has powers to make rules for Foreign Medical Graduates to regulate the quality of medical professionals in the country and stated, "It is true that the country needs more doctors, but it needs really qualified doctors and not persons trained by institutions abroad, to test their skills only in their mother land.”
The Court made further observations on Licentiate Regulations and Internship rules, it stated that as below:-
“Prescription of minimum standards would certainly include the prescription of the minimum duration for a course. It may be open to the medical institutions of other countries to prescribe a duration of less than 54 months for the students of their country. But it is not necessary for the NMC and the Central Government to recognise foreign medical degrees of a lesser duration, if the incumbent wants to have permanent registration in India…”
Emphasising on the importance of internship and training it observed that “The prescription of an internship for a minimum duration of 12 months in the same foreign medical institution cannot also be said to be a duplication of internships. The purpose of internship is to test the ability of the students to apply their academic knowledge on their subjects, namely the patients. Medical institutions of other countries may not insist on rigorous internship for students who may not put to test their skills on the population of their country. But it is not necessary for us to follow suit…”
“The requirement under Regulation 4(b) has been necessitated to ensure that the students who were imparted medical education in a foreign country demonstrate their skills first on the population of the country where they studied. The necessity for a Master Chef to taste the food prepared by him, before it is served on the guests, cannot be said to be arbitrary.”
The Court while dismissing the appeal waived off the costs imposed by the Madras High Court taking into account that the Appellant is a student and also stated that the mad rush to become medical professionals cannot drive them to countries where shortcuts are offered.