Kerala is the state from where most students from India go to study MBBS abroad. Children mainly go to countries like China, Ukraine, Philippines and Moldova to study. According to 2020 data from the Ministry of External Affairs, 10.9 lakh students from India have gone abroad for education. This will include students for various courses. However, every year the highest number of admissions are sought and the number of students is increasing for courses including medical related MBBS. After 2014, more students from Kerala started going abroad for medical studies. Later it became a trend.

Courses including ones from medical-related fields like MBBS are the most sought-after. The number of students applying for these courses are increasing every year. More students from Kerala started going abroad for medical studies after 2014. It became a trend later. Difficulty in even getting a management seat in Kerala, increased fees, etc. are the main reasons that make students depend on medical degrees abroad. The number of institutions sending students abroad has increased tenfold in the state in the last ten years. The most interesting thing is that it is the children of the middle class who go abroad for such studies. The children of the rich will manage to get a seat in the country itself in the NRI quota etc. A child is sent abroad for medical studies for a period of five years, using a family's total savings in addition to loans. Medical study abroad is the only option for those who fail the entrance test for medical admission in Kerala and get relatively low scores. Majority of the students choose countries for their studies comparing the low fees and cost of living.

When a student completes a five-year course in a management seat in a private medical college in Kerala, it would have cost him around one crore rupees. The same course can be completed for fifty to eighty lakhs by those studying abroad. However, medical studies in universities in America and Central Europe are very expensive. Those who complete their studies abroad can get registration with the Indian Medical Association only if they pass a qualifying examination in India. Allegations have been raised that this exam is conducted in an extremely tough manner to deliberately fail the students. This exam is called the Foreign Medical Graduates Examination. Only 21.52 percent passed the last exam. The parents' association says that many of the students who appeared for the exam are on the verge of committing suicide as they are failing repeatedly. Such exams should focus more on the process of medical practice in India than on subject knowledge. Those who study in Kerala and go abroad also write and pass such exams in those respective countries. In our news titled "Unable to pass qualifying exam; Indians who did MBBS abroad on verge of committing suicide", we described how a student who scored 94 percent marks from a famous university in China was unable to pass the FMGE exam despite writing it twice.

Firstly this test should not be too hard. This test should only be intended to measure their basic knowledge of the subject. The National Board of Examination Medical Science is conducting the exam at present without revealing the syllabus, questions, answer key etc. Marks obtained will not be disclosed. There is no opportunity for revaluation. None of this is right. Parents and students should make efforts to draw the attention of the Supreme Court, which intervened in the conduct of NEET examination, on this issue as well. The authorities will not change anything otherwise. The demand of students to make this exam as transparent as NEET is quite reasonable.