New Delhi: In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today, Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad, Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare said that it is mandatory for Foreign Medical Graduates to clear the screening exam conducted by National Board of Examination to register with Medical Council of India (MCI).

3143 candidates appeared in 2007 in which 536 have been declared passed, in 2008, 1326 were declared passed out of total appeared 4211 and 460 have been declared passed in 2009 out of total appeared 2289.

According to the National Board of Examinations, there is a welldefined and prescribed syllabus for examination which is contained in the information bulletin for the Screening Test.

Since, examination is not merit based and only qualifying examination, personal marks obtained by the candidates are not revealed. The examination system is transparent and papers are evaluated on computer and results generated and notified within few hours of conducting the examination.