20 hours ago
Day 4: Protesting FMGs taken away to police stations, detained for nearly 5 hours
Once again, Foreign Medical Graduates (FMGs), who had gathered outside the gates of Dr. NTR University of Health Sciences on Thursday demanding answers from A.P. Medical Council Chairman and Registrar on the status of Permanent Registrations (PRs), were taken away to different police stations.
On the fourth day of the protest, around 100 graduates came for the protest, at Dharna Chowk in Vijayawada. Later, around 2 p.m., they came to the university and waited for the APMC Registrar to come outside. When he did not come, the graduates tried to seek answers from the APMC Chairman D. Sreehari Rao, who had just arrived at the university. As the students tried to stop his car, one of them was injured. The boy was later taken to the hospital.
The other protestors were detained at different police stations for almost five hours. Deploring the ill-treatment of graduates by the police, they said that all they wanted was answers from the APMC Chairman and Registrar on why, even after one year, they do not have answers in regards to their PRs.
Meanwhile, the issue has acquired a political turn with former Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy putting out a post on social media supporting the FMGs. The graduates clarified that they are not associated with any party and only hoped that more academic years are not wasted. Many have been waiting for PRs since May 2024.
When asked about why the police personnel were present near the university, APMC Chairman, Mr. Sreehari Rao, said that the police arrived on the spot to avert any incident at the time of the Chief Minister's convoy passing. He also added that the involvement of student unions, including All India Students' Federation and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, escalated the matter.
Regarding the status of PRs, the Chairman said that the government is in favour of the FMGs, and that the APMC members would be going to New Delhi next week to get clarity from the National Medical Commission (NMC) regarding the duration of the internship.
