MCI's Eligibility Certificate not mandatory to study MBBS abroad

It's good news to those who prefer to study MBBS abroad. Yes, previously, there was a need of eligibility certificate provided by the MCI (Medical Council of India) which was mandatory to be submitted during admissions.

But now, the eligibility certificate is not mandatory! However, they have to fill the eligibility criteria as per the Graduate Medical Education Regulation Act 1997.

The decision was announced by the government for students who want to study MBBS abroad. It will take several months to obtain eligibility certificate from Medical Council of India. Before issuing this certificate, MCI will check student age and educational qualification by obtaining data from Board of Intermediate Education.

It came into notice that, in order to avoid the long process of verification, students prefer approaching agents to get it done quite faster.

The students who take admissions directly without any eligibility certificate have to go through a screening test. This test is mandatory to do a practice in India.

Today, majority of students prefer studying MBA abroad because of two reasons; shortage of MBBS seats in Andhra Pradesh and cost of MBBS course is low in abroad, when compared to India.

According to the source, maximum cost to study MBBS in countries like Philippines, Central America, Russia, China is less than Rs. 30 lakhs. But in Andhra Pradesh, it costs Rs. 80 lakhs for a MBBS seat in management quota, as a donation.

Andhra Pradesh, has a total of around 6200 MBBS seats for which, nearly 1 lakh candidates are appearing in EAMCET examination. And the overall cost of MBBS in Andhra Pradesh is Rs. 1.5 crores. Well, this is a very tough competition.

Hence, considering all the issues that candidates are facing to get an MBBS seat, MCI has ceased the norms for pursuing MBBS abroad.

According to MCI's notification, Indian citizens who wants to acquire primary medical qualification from any foreign country on or after 15th May, 2013, do not require eligibility certificate from MCI- India. Instead, candidates need to fill the eligibility criteria as per the Graduate Medical Education Regulation Act 1997.