CSFK Demands FMGE Centre in Kashmir Valley, Cites Inequity, Hardship

SRINAGAR: The Civil Society Forum Kashmir (CSFK) has issued an appeal to the Jammu and Kashmir government, urging the immediate establishment of a Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE) centre in the Kashmir Valley. In a formal statement, the forum called upon the Chief Minister, the Health Minister, and the Secretary of the Health and Medical Education Department to prioritise the matter in the interest of fairness and accessibility for Kashmiri medical graduates returning from abroad.

The FMGE, conducted by the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS), is a mandatory screening test for Indian citizens who complete their medical education in foreign countries. Passing this examination is essential for obtaining a licence to practise medicine in India. Despite the growing number of foreign medical graduates (FMGs) hailing from the Kashmir Valley, no examination centre exists in the region, forcing candidates to travel long distances to other parts of India, including Delhi, Punjab, and various southern states.

CSFK noted that this absence of a local exam centre places a disproportionate burden on aspirants from Kashmir. They are compelled to bear financial strain, navigate travel and accommodation challenges, and contend with safety and weather-related concerns—often right before one of the most important examinations of their lives. The forum argued that such avoidable stress can harm performance and morale.

While states such as Tamil Nadu and Kerala now boast as many as six FMGE centres each, and other states like Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Andhra Pradesh have between four and five centres, Jammu and Kashmir has only one—and that too located in Jammu, hundreds of kilometres from most candidates in the Valley. Even states with significantly smaller foreign medical graduate populations, such as Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, and Jharkhand, have at least one designated exam centre.

Kashmir, the CSFK emphasised, remains the only major region in the country with a substantial FMG population but without a single FMGE centre. This, the forum believes, is a glaring omission in national medical policy and a serious inequity that needs to be corrected without delay.

The CSFK concluded its statement by reiterating that establishing an FMGE centre in Srinagar, or another accessible location in the Valley, would not only level the playing field for Kashmiri aspirants but also support the region’s growing healthcare needs. The presence of such a centre, they argued, would facilitate the return of trained professionals to the Valley’s hospitals and clinics—an outcome that would ultimately benefit the broader public health ecosystem.

“Let merit be tested, not endurance,” the forum stated, calling for an end to what it described as an unfair test of logistical resilience rather than academic readiness. The demand, rooted in both logic and equity, now awaits a policy response from the Jammu and Kashmir administration.