NBEMS will not lower FMGE qualifying standards despite protests.
The concerns of doctors who have got their degrees abroad will be looked into, but the qualification criteria for the exam to make them eligible to practise in India will not be lowered, according to a senior official at the National Board of Examination in Medical Sciences (NBEMS).
This has come amid growing protests by a section of candidates against alleged inadequate arrangements.
The Foreign Medical Graduates Examination (FMGE) is a mandatory licensing test held twice a year for Indian citizens and Overseas Citizens of India (OCIs) who earned their primary medical degree (MBBS) abroad and want to practise medicine in this country.
At the same time, a three-member expert panel formed by the NBEMS to look into FMGE reforms has recommended examining the feasibility of holding the exam thrice a year, and reviewing the examination fee.
The committee, led by Air Marshal (Dr) Pawan Kapoor (retd), has suggested improving the infrastructure at examination centres and allowing candidates access to their recorded responses, with technical and legal safeguards in place.
The panel has also proposed a more balanced structure of question papers, with questions apportioned on the basis of their levels of 'difficulty' -- 30 per cent low-, 50 per cent moderate-, and 20 per cent high-difficulty questions.
It has recommended that the 'mean difficulty' level should not exceed 5.5.
The recommendations come after the overall pass percentage for the FMGE in the June 2026 session fell to 12.38 per cent, triggering agitation among candidates, who raised concerns over the 'difficulty' of the paper and the inclusion of video-based questions.
One of the key demands during the agitation was relief in the form of 'grace' or 'compensatory' marks for the June examination.
The expert committee, however, did not recommend 'grace' or 'compensatory' marks for the June examination, finding no material evidence that the video-based questions or overall difficulty had affected the outcome.
The NBEMS has maintained that the evidence does not support such a measure.
"The issue is to ensure a fair and transparent examination while retaining the competency threshold necessary for patient safety," the official quoted above said.
In the June 2026 session, the official added a scrutiny showed that 35.74 per cent of the candidates appearing in the exam for the first time cleared it as against just 3.29 per cent among those appearing after more than five attempts.
"In December 2025, the first-time pass rate was even higher at 47.53 per cent while it fell to 5.58 per cent among candidates with more than five attempts," the official said, noting that the overall pass percentage alone could not be used to argue that an entire examination cohort was subjected to an unfair paper.
Officials added that the FMGE was a screening test for graduates trained outside India, and not a competitive entrance test.
"The minimum qualifying standard exists because doctors must be competent to handle potentially life-threatening situations such as myocardial infarction, stroke, sepsis, complicated pregnancy and paediatric emergencies," a source in the NBEMS said.
Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff