[BREAKING] Delhi High Court dismisses doctors' association plea to postpone FMGE screening test on account of COVID19

The Delhi High Court on Friday dismissed a plea by the Association of MD Physicians seeking to postpone the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE) screening test on account of COVID19. (Association of MD Physicians vs NBE).After hearing the parties at length, a Bench of Justice Amit Bansal said, "I am not inclined. Dismissed.".FMGE screening test is scheduled to take place on June 18. .The test screens Indian citizen/Overseas citizen of India who hold a primary medical qualification awarded by any medical institution outside India and allows them to get registered with the Medical Council of India or any State Medical Council. .The Association had prayed that the test be delayed by a month to enable the aspirants to get themselves vaccinated against COVID19 in the meantime. .Counsel appearing for the Association, Advocate Adit S Pujari, today argued that forcing the doctors to sit for the examination on June 18 would be in violation of Article 14 of the Constitution of India. ."No other medical student has to travel (for a test)..We just want four weeks.", he said. .Pujari further informed the Court that even if a doctor wished to not sit for the test this time, there was no provision made to carry forward the test fees to the next year or to refund it. .It was argued that while the doctors herein were ready and willing to be part of the COVID-19 workforce, mandating them to travel to other cities to take the test would put them and their families at the risk of contracting COVID-19..In their petition filed through Pujari and Advocate Chaitanya Sundriyal, the Association highlighted that a large number of competitive examinations and qualifying examinations had either been postponed/ cancelled altogether..The petition was opposed by Central government, National Medical Commisison as well as the National Board of Examination that holds the test. .While emphasizing on the need to augment workforce, Standing Counsel Kiritman Singh informed the Court that ever since the pandemic began, the test had already been conducted twice. .17,198 and 18,576 aspirants appeared in the test held in August 2020 and December 2020, respectively, it was said. .The Court was further informed that as opposed to 38 centres in pre-COVID times, this time, the test was going to be held across 98 centres. . Singh also stated that the test would be conducted as per social distancing norms and the aspirants were even required to carry their latest RT-PCR test report. . Advovate T Singhdev appeared for the NMC. .A detailed copy of the Court's order is awaited.