Left in Limbo: Systemic Bottlenecks Leave Hundreds of Delhi’s Foreign Medical Graduates Without Mandatory Training

NEW DELHI — A critical administrative and financial bottleneck has left more than 346 qualified Foreign Medical Graduates (FMGs) in the National Capital Territory of Delhi stranded, unable to secure the mandatory training required to practice medicine. Despite health authorities officially approving over 500 internship slots across various institutions, student representatives reveal that fewer than 70 positions have actually been made available. The growing crisis has forced desperate graduates to appeal directly to Delhi Health Minister Pankaj Singh, exposing a severe disconnect between state-approved educational capacity and institutional execution.

The impasse arrives at a time when India continues to grapple with localized shortages of healthcare professionals, particularly in primary care and rural medicine. Because these graduates cannot obtain permanent medical registration without completing this clinical training, the current standstill effectively locks hundreds of fully qualified doctors out of the healthcare workforce.

The Core Problem: Approved Capacity vs. Clinical Reality

To legally practice medicine or pursue postgraduate studies in India, medical graduates who earn their degrees abroad must pass the rigorous Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE) and subsequently complete a 12-month Compulsory Rotating Medical Internship (CRMI).

Data compiled by student representatives and submitted formally to the Delhi Health Ministry indicates that approximately 346 candidates who cleared the January 2026 FMGE in Delhi remain completely locked out of the system. While historical allocations—such as a May 2023 Delhi Medical Council (DMC) notification—demarcated 587 approved seats across 11 government and private hospitals, the actual availability on the ground has slowed to a crawl.

“The internship is mandatory for permanent registration and eligibility for postgraduate medical education,” a representative for the Delhi FMG cohort stated. “However, many are still waiting for internship seats, and hospitals are either offering very few seats or none at all.”

Currently, only 63 to 68 seats are actively being offered across Delhi’s vast network of hospitals, leaving the majority of passing candidates in professional stasis.

The 7.5% Quota and the Fight for Seats

The National Medical Commission (NMC) has instituted a strict regulatory framework to handle the influx of international medical alumni. Current guidelines stipulate that:

• 7.5 percent of the permitted intern intake in established domestic medical colleges must be allocated specifically to FMGs.

• 100 percent of internship allocations in newly established medical colleges, alongside any surplus seats created by expanded MBBS intakes between the 2022–23 and 2025–26 academic terms, are reserved exclusively for FMGs.

Despite these mandates, local implementation has faltered. For instance, Hindu Rao Hospital—a major municipal facility—was previously designated to host 150 FMG interns. Yet, student advocates argue that institutions are routinely failing to fulfill these allocation obligations, citing bureaucratic gridlock and localized administrative resistance.

The Stipend Controversy: A Financial Catch-22

At the heart of the institutional reluctance to take on foreign graduates is an ongoing legal and financial dispute regarding compensation. In landmark orders dated September 16, 2023, and April 1, 2024, the Supreme Court of India ruled definitively that FMGs must receive stipends at parity with Indian Medical Graduates (IMGs) training at the same institutions. This is reinforced by Clause 3, Schedule IV of the NMC’s Compulsory Rotatory Medical Internship Regulations, 2021.

Hospitals managed by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) have frequently cited severe financial constraints following these directives. Because the law strictly prohibits treating FMGs as unpaid labor, several hospitals have chosen to close their internship doors entirely to foreign graduates rather than take on the unexpected budgetary burden. Even when desperate graduates have offered to waive their stipends entirely to jumpstart their careers, hospitals have declined to avoid violating NMC guidelines and risking legal contempt.

A Recurring Crisis with Deepening Roots

This structural logjam is far from a novelty for Delhi’s medical infrastructure. The gap between qualifying doctors and available hospital desks has been widening for years:

• April 2024: The DMC noted that over 1,000 international graduates applied for internships in the capital, with only 60 available slots. At the time, Dr. Girish Tyagi, Secretary of the DMC, warned that the council lacked the sheer capacity to accommodate even those graduates originating natively from Delhi.

• May 2025: Despite minor administrative adjustments that cleared 236 seats, more than 250 FMGs were left waiting. By the end of the year, an additional 278 candidates remained stranded.

Recognizing the macro-level shortage, the NMC intervened nationally in March 2026, expanding the total national pool to 43,250 CRMI slots across 797 medical colleges for the 2026–27 academic year. Further, in May 2026, the apex body extended permission for FMGs to complete their training in accredited non-teaching hospitals until May 2028. However, while these national measures look promising on paper, localized allocation in Delhi remains severely choked.

Government Pledges Resolution

In response to the escalating crisis, Delhi Health Minister Pankaj Singh met with FMG representatives in June 2026 to chart a path forward.

“We met the students today and heard their grievances. We are looking into the matter with utmost importance and will soon resolve it,” Singh noted publicly following the briefing.

The minister clarified that a comprehensive stipend proposal is currently undergoing evaluation by the city’s finance department and requires formal approval from the Chief Minister. Crucially for the anxious graduates, Singh assured the public that the internship allotment process would not be held hostage by budgetary debates, promising to intervene directly with the medical superintendents of non-compliant hospitals.

Broad Public Health and Economic Implications

The ongoing bottleneck has tangible ramifications for the broader Indian healthcare system. FMGs represent a vital influx of medical talent, frequently returning from rigorous medical programs in nations such as Russia, China, and Ukraine.

The scale of the hurdle is illustrated by the difficulty of the qualifying exam itself. In the January 2026 FMGE cycle, only 10,264 out of 43,933 candidates successfully passed the exam—a stringent success rate of just 23.9%.

[Total Examined: 43,933] ---> [Passed FMGE: 10,264 (23.9%)] ---> [Blocked by Internship Shortages]

To leave a substantial portion of this hard-won, successfully qualified cohort sitting idle due to municipal budget disputes represents an enormous waste of public and private resources. Until these graduates finish their clinical rotations, they cannot bolster primary care clinics, support strained emergency rooms, or progress into specialized post-graduate training.

Institutional Limitations and the Path Forward

While the plight of the students commands significant empathy, healthcare analysts acknowledge the genuine structural pressures confronting municipal hospitals. Government facilities are already stretched thin, balancing heavy patient volumes with tightly restricted public funding. Forcing these institutions to take on hundreds of additional stipends without providing corresponding state-level subsidies creates severe operational friction.

Furthermore, medical education experts argue that the existing 7.5% quota system may simply be fundamentally outdated. Given the thousands of students returning from overseas medical programs annually, a major systemic overhaul is required. Recommended solutions include permanently integrating non-teaching district hospitals into the rotation pool, establishing dedicated state funds specifically for FMG stipends, and streamlining the administrative pipelines between State Medical Councils and the NMC.

Until those systemic changes manifest, hundreds of young doctors in Delhi remain waiting at the starting line, ready to serve a healthcare system that desperately needs them, yet unable to step through the door.

Medical Disclaimer

Medical Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and should not be considered medical advice. Always consult with qualified healthcare professionals before making any health-related decisions or changes to your treatment plan. The information presented here is based on current research and expert opinions, which may evolve as new evidence emerges.

Reference Section

• https://medicaldialogues.in/news/education/delhi-fmgs-await-internships-despite-over-500-approved-seats-raise-issue-with-health-minister-173327