The Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE) — the mandatory licensing test every Indian citizen with a foreign medical degree must clear before practising in India — is once again at the centre of a transparency dispute. The exam is conducted twice a year by the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) on behalf of the National Medical Commission (NMC), and clearing it is the only route to provisional or permanent medical registration in the country for graduates of foreign universities.

What Happened With the June 2026 Result

FMGE June 2026 was conducted on June 28, and results were declared in early July. Of the roughly 38,000 candidates who appeared, only around 12.3% qualified — one of the steepest year-on-year drops the exam has recorded, and by some counts the lowest pass percentage in its recent history. Candidates and educators who spoke to reporters pointed to a noticeably harder question paper and inconsistent testing conditions across centres, on top of the exam's already brutal historical failure rate.

FMG groups, including the All FMGs Association (AFA), said on social media that the pass percentage had fallen by close to half compared with the previous three to four sessions, and argued the paper had become tougher than NEET PG or INI-CET in places. They also flagged that FMGE carries an exam fee while candidates still cannot access a published answer key to check their own performance.

Why "Transparency" Is the Real Flashpoint

Unlike most large national entrance exams in India, FMGE does not publish a provisional answer key, does not release response sheets, and offers candidates no formal channel to challenge a question or request re-evaluation. A candidate receives only a final scorecard — pass or fail — with no way to see which questions they got wrong.

This isn't new. FMG associations have been asking NBE to release the answer key since at least 2024, when the board's leadership publicly defended withholding it, arguing that publishing questions would let coaching centres reverse-engineer the exam pattern and that the question bank itself needed to stay confidential. That justification has never fully satisfied candidates, especially as pass rates swung sharply from year to year with no public data trail to explain why.

The Supreme Court Petition

In late July 2026, the Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre, the NMC, and NBE on a petition seeking disclosure of the FMGE June 2026 question papers, candidates' response sheets, and the official answer key. The petition asks for a fair and effective mechanism to verify scores and seek re-evaluation where discrepancies are found. It also seeks forward-looking directions: publication of provisional answer keys for future sessions, an independent panel to review candidate objections, and disclosure of final answer keys going forward — essentially asking the court to bring FMGE in line with how most other competitive exams in India are run.

A Pattern of Recurring FMG Protests

The July 2026 protest is the latest in a string of FMG mobilisations over the past year, most of them about process rather than the exam's difficulty itself:

• November 2025: Hundreds of FMGs protested outside the NMC office over long-pending FMGE eligibility certificates, some delayed by one to two years, which blocked them from even sitting the exam.
• March 2026: FMGs protested an NMC notice requiring physical, onsite "compensation" training for classes taken online during the COVID-19 pandemic — years after the fact. Following representations from FMG associations, the NMC agreed by mid-March 2026 to revise the guideline and continue accepting existing compensation certificates.
• June 2026: Reports emerged of state medical councils, including in Rajasthan, allegedly withholding registration for FMGs over the same online-class compensation issue, despite the March clarification.

Taken together, these episodes point to a recurring complaint from the FMG community: that rules, certificates, and now exam outcomes are decided through internal processes with little visibility for the candidates whose careers depend on them.

What FMGE Pass Rates Have Looked Like

FMGE's qualifying mark has stayed fixed at 150 out of 300, but the share of candidates clearing it has swung considerably session to session:

• December 2022: around 32% qualified
• December 2024: 29.62% qualified (13,149 of 44,390 candidates)
• June 2025: 18.61% qualified (6,707 of 36,034 candidates)
• December 2025: 23.37% qualified, a modest recovery
• June 2026: approximately 12.3% qualified — the steepest drop in recent sessions

With no published answer key or item-level data, candidates have no independent way to know whether these swings reflect changing difficulty, evaluation changes, or something else — which is precisely the gap the current Supreme Court petition is trying to close.

What Happens Next

The Centre, NMC, and NBE now have to respond to the Supreme Court notice. If the court rules in the petitioners' favour, it could force NBEMS to publish answer keys and open a re-evaluation window for FMGE for the first time — a structural change FMG associations have sought for years. Until then, the June 2026 results stand, and affected candidates are left to plan their next attempt without knowing exactly where they lost marks.

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This is a developing story; court proceedings and NBE responses may change the details above. Sources: Medical Dialogues, Newslaundry, Careers360. Last updated: August 2026.

In one of the largest coordinated demonstrations by the medical community in recent years, resident doctors from major government hospitals across Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai walked off the wards on July 30, 2026, in response to remarks made by the Chief Justice of India (CJP) during a high-profile medical negligence hearing at the Supreme Court.

What the CJP Said

During oral arguments in a bench hearing a petition filed by the family of a patient who died post-surgery at a private hospital in Lucknow, the Chief Justice remarked that "doctors cannot hide behind complex medical jargon to escape accountability," and suggested that criminal provisions should apply more broadly when outcomes are adverse despite families having paid large sums. The remarks, while not part of any formal order, circulated rapidly on medical social media within hours of the hearing.

The Doctors' Demands

Protest organisers issued a five-point demand charter to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Supreme Court registry:

• Judicial clarification distinguishing gross negligence from adverse outcomes before next hearing
• Enactment of the Central Healthcare Protection Act within 90 days
• Mandatory mediation before any criminal complaint against a healthcare provider is registered
• Formation of an expert medical panel to assist courts in negligence adjudication
• Written assurance from MoHFW on protection of bona fide clinical decisions

Hospital Impact & Government Response

OPD footfall at AIIMS New Delhi dropped to near-zero by 9 AM, with an estimated 8,000 patients turned away across affected hospitals by noon. Emergency services, intensive care units, and labour rooms were kept operational by senior faculty and on-call consultants. The Health Secretary convened an emergency meeting at Nirman Bhawan by 2 PM, and the Attorney General indicated the Supreme Court would issue a clarificatory statement the following morning.

By the evening, the Supreme Court bench issued a press note clarifying that the CJP's oral remarks were "exploratory observations" and should not be read as laying down the law, and that no criminal liability arose from the day's proceedings. FORDA subsequently announced a 48-hour suspension of the strike, pending formal written communication from MoHFW.

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This article will be updated as the situation develops. Last updated: July 30, 2026, 11:45 PM IST.

The National Board of Examinations (NBE) declared the NEET PG 2026 results on July 28, 2026, with the official merit list available on the NBE portal. This year's examination, held on June 15, 2026, saw 2.18 lakh registered candidates — a record high — of whom approximately 1.94 lakh appeared.

Cut-off Trends by Specialty

The overall qualifying cut-off remains at the 50th percentile for general category candidates, as mandated by NMC. However, the effective competition cut-off — the score needed to realistically compete for seats in sought-after specialties — has risen considerably this year.

• General Surgery: Competition score rose by ~8 points year-on-year, driven by increased seats but even higher applicant quality
• Radiodiagnosis: Continues to be the most sought-after specialty; competition scores at an all-time high
• Paediatrics: Saw a 6-point rise in competition score, attributed to new AIIMS and government hospital seats
• Psychiatry: Remains undersubscribed relative to seats; accessible in the 65th–70th percentile range
• Community Medicine: Among the most accessible clinical branches; government hospitals prioritising these seats

Counselling Schedule

The Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) has released the provisional schedule for NEET PG 2026 counselling. Round 1 will open on August 18, 2026, covering 50% of all-India quota seats at government medical colleges. Candidates are advised to keep their documents ready — MBBS degree certificate, internship completion certificate, NMC registration, and category certificates where applicable.

What Candidates Should Do Now

• Download and verify your scorecard on the NBE portal immediately
• Cross-check your percentile against previous years' closing ranks for your target specialty
• Complete online registration on the MCC portal before August 10, 2026 (Round 1 deadline)
• Prepare a preferred-college list across at least 3 specialties as a safety net
• Check state quota counselling schedules separately — these vary by state

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MCC counselling dates are tentative and subject to Supreme Court orders. Last updated: July 28, 2026.

The National Medical Commission (NMC) published a gazette notification on July 24, 2026 making it mandatory for all doctors completing postgraduate medical education at government-funded institutions to serve a minimum of one year at a rural or semi-urban government health facility before being granted their PG degree certificate and NMC registration.

The NMC's Rationale

The NMC circular, signed by the Commission's executive director, states that the move is aimed at addressing the acute shortage of specialist doctors at Primary Health Centres (PHCs), Community Health Centres (CHCs), and District Hospitals across 12 states where the doctor-to-population ratio falls below 1:2,000. The Commission cited a 2025 WHO India study showing that rural areas receive only 30% of the country's specialist medical workforce despite housing 65% of its population.

IMA's Objections

The Indian Medical Association filed a representation with the NMC and simultaneously moved the Supreme Court challenging the circular on constitutional grounds. Their primary objections include:

• The circular selectively burdens government-college graduates, violating Article 14 (equality before law)
• Rural postings lack basic safety infrastructure — especially for female doctors posted in isolated locations
• The ₹85,000 monthly stipend is insufficient given the loan burden many PG students carry
• No mechanism exists for hardship exemptions for candidates with dependent family members
• The 12-month delay in full registration disadvantages government-college graduates in global job markets

Current Legal Status

The Supreme Court, on July 25, 2026, issued a notice to the NMC and the Ministry of Health asking them to respond within two weeks. The court has listed the matter for a stay hearing on August 6, 2026. Until then, the notification remains in effect, though no penalty clauses can be triggered before the first affected batch graduates in May 2027.

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This is a developing legal story. The SC hearing date is August 6, 2026. Last updated: July 25, 2026.

A landmark study published in the Indian Journal of Medical Research on July 21, 2026 has demonstrated that an artificial intelligence model developed entirely within India — at AIIMS New Delhi's Department of Radiodiagnosis — can detect early pulmonary tuberculosis on plain chest X-rays with a sensitivity of 94.2%, outperforming a panel of five senior radiologists who achieved a mean sensitivity of 87.4% on the same dataset.

How the Model Works

The model — named TBScan-India v2 — is a convolutional neural network trained on 1.2 lakh de-identified chest X-rays sourced from eight government tertiary hospitals across five states. The dataset was curated over 18 months and labelled by a team of 12 radiologists, with consensus labels used as ground truth for training.

Unlike earlier AI models that flagged any abnormality, TBScan-India v2 was specifically trained to identify the subtle early radiographic signs of pulmonary TB — including faint upper-lobe infiltrates, early cavity formation, and minimal pleural reaction — features that are frequently missed or reported as "equivocal" by general physicians in resource-limited settings.

Why This Matters for India

India accounts for approximately 27% of global TB burden, with an estimated 2.8 million new cases annually. A significant proportion of these go undiagnosed or are diagnosed late because frontline facilities in rural India lack qualified radiologists to interpret chest X-rays. TBScan-India v2 addresses this bottleneck directly:

• The model runs offline on a low-cost device costing approximately ₹15,000 — compatible with PHC-level infrastructure
• Results are available in under 90 seconds per image
• The interface is designed for ASHA workers and general physicians, not specialists
• Positive flags automatically generate a referral slip and alert the district TB officer

What Happens Next

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has approved a Phase 3 field trial of TBScan-India v2 across three high-burden states — Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra — beginning September 2026. If the field trial confirms the lab findings, ICMR and NMC are expected to recommend the model for deployment under the National TB Elimination Programme (NTEP) by early 2027. The team also plans to adapt the architecture for early detection of pneumoconiosis and lung malignancies in subsequent studies.

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The full paper is available open-access at the Indian Journal of Medical Research. Last updated: July 22, 2026.