Medicos work out alternatives to fly to the US

SNV SudhIr/Visakhapatnam

Medicos desirous of pursuing PG in the US generally apply for a PG in some other stream to gain entry into the country.After completion of MBBS, medicos face an uphill task comprising four long steps of MLE (Medical Licencing Examination), the gateway for medico’s to enrol for PG in the US. Students prefer to complete two steps here and two in the US.But here the problem starts they say. After the first two steps they have to apply for a visa. “The interviewer most often rejects our visa saying we may become potential migrants and lured by the stipends and salaries a doctor gets there, we will not return,” Nagesh (name changed) a final year MBBS student of Andhra Medical College said under the circumstances of anonymity. ). Medical students say it is not so difficult for engineers and students of other professional courses.A PG course in medicine known as Residency Course in US takes four years and a residency student gets at least $ 6,000 to $ 7,000 per month as stipend. The stakes are much higher after completion of residency. A US study shows that a 10 per cent increase in surgeons leads to 3 to 4 per cent increase in unnecessary surgeries, the phenomenon of supplier induced demand comes to play here. This could also be one of the reasons for visa rejection.“It takes at least one year to complete the first two steps in India and if he is rejected finally at the interview a student’s valuable year gets wasted. Moreover PG entrance patterns in India are entirely different from the US and a student ends up in a huge mess,” says Vikram (name changed). And the rule demands that within seven years from the day one starts the first step of MLE, a medico should complete his PG in US.To overcome the problem, most students write GRE to get admission into American universities for some other PG like hospital management, Public health, et al as it is relatively easier to secure visas for these courses. Then they attempt the four steps of MLE and jump to medical Residency.But the challenge lies in completing these four steps before they complete their PG on which they got their visa. Moreover MLE in the US is a very costly affair, test fee for every step costs approximately Rs 40,000.