In Public Interest: Kerala HC Upholds Mandatory Rotating Medical Internship By Foreign Students For Missing Classes Due To COVID/ Ukraine War

The petitioners had undergone medical course in Ukraine from 2016-2022. They approached the High Court seeking a declaration that they only have to undergo a Compulsory Rotating Medical Internship for one year as per Regulation 5 of the National Medical Commission (Compulsory Rotating Medical Internship) Regulations of 2021.

The petitioners were challenging a public notice issued by the Kerala State Medical Commission mandating that foreign medical students must undergo two years of Compulsory Rotating Medical Internship to compensate for attending online classes due to COVID-19.

Justice C S Dias while referring to Supreme Court's judgment in National Medical Commission v. Pooja Thandu Naresh and Ors. (2022) observed that the Kerala State Medical Commission is the appropriate authority for issuing regulations. In Pooja Thandu Naresh (supra), the Apex Court stated that Doctors cannot take care of citizens without practical training.Dismissing the writ petition, the Court held thus:

“On an evaluation of the facts, the materials and the law, especially on finding that there are no materials to substantiate that the petitioners had undergone their last year of study during the COVID-19 pandemic in the offline mode, I do not find any valid ground to hold that Note 3 in Ext.P5 series is arbitrary or oppressive. The stipulation has been incorporated in the larger public interest to ensure that foreign medical graduates are granted permanent registration only after getting adequate practical training as they were unable to attend classes due to the pandemic or the war.”

The petitioners have undergone the whole medical curriculum including theory, practical training and examinations in Ukraine. They completed their course in 2022 and have also passed the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination in 2022 for practising in India.

It is to be noted that as per Regulation 5 of the National Medical Commission (Compulsory Rotating Medical Internship) Regulations of 2021 and Kerala Medical Practitioners Act, Compulsory Rotating Medical Internship shall not be less than 12 months and must be completed within two years of graduation. This is mandatory if petitioners have to seek Permanent Registration to practise medicine in India.

The Kerala State Medical Commission issued a public notice mandating that students who have sufficiently compensated classes in physical onsite instead of online classes and have subsequently passed examinations equivalent to MBBS have to undergo only a one-year medical internship, and others have to undergo two years of mandatory medical internship.

The petitioners are aggrieved that the Kerala State Medical Commission issued provisional registration certificates to the petitioners stipulating that they have to undergo medical internship for two years.

The petitioners argued that as per statute, only one year is mandatory and that cannot be changed to two years as per executive decision. They argued that this was violative of Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution.

On the other hand, the respondents argued that due to COVID-19, many foreign students had to undergo their curriculum in an online mode and even wrote their examinations online. Relying upon Apex Court judgment in Pooja Thandu Naresh and Ors. (supra) 2022), it was stated that foreign medical students must undergo two years of medical internship to compensate for not physically attending classes due to Pandemics. It was also submitted that the petitioners in this case have also undergone online classes during COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine.

The Court noted that the petitioners have not produced any evidence to show that they attended classes during the pandemic period from June 2021 to June 2022 in the offline mode. It noted that issues like whether petitioners attended classes physically in Ukraine or if they got sufficient online classes cannot be determined in a writ petition.

Relying upon precedents, the Court observed that Courts should be extremely reluctant to substitute their views in academic matters since those matters have to be determined by experts.

Court stated, “It is well settled in a host of judicial pronouncements that the Courts should refrain from substituting the wisdom of the Experts in academic matters.”

As such, the Court observed that the mandatory two year medical internship was made in larger public interest and declined to interfere.

As such, the writ petition was dismissed.

Counsel for Petitioners: Advocates Aysha Youseff, V.K.Sidhique Sajitha Sidhik, Akheela Farzana, Anjala Farhath V.S.

Counsel for Respondents: Senior GP Deepa Narayanan, DSGI T C Krishna, Standing Counsel Vivek Menon, Advocate K S Prenjith Kumar

Case Number: WP (C) No. 30673 Of 2024

Case Title: Dr. Thahiya Thasleem V S & Another v State of Kerala

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Ker) 802