'Can't practice based on qualifications from Pok,' Medical council of India issues notice

NEW DELHI: In a significant move with larger political and strategic ramifications, the Medical Council of India (MCI) has issued a public notice stating that any qualification obtained from medical colleges in Pakistan-occupied territories of J&K and Ladakh shall not entitle a person for grant of registration to practice medicine in India.
Stating that the entire territories of Union territory of J&K and Union territory of Ladakh are an integral part of India despite Pakistan being in illegal occupation of a part of these territories, MCI cited the rule that requires any medical institution in Pakistan-occupied J&K and Ladakh (PoJKL) to seek permission/recognition under the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956. "Such permission has not been granted to any medical college in PoJKL.
Therefore, any qualification obtained from medical colleges located within these illegally occupied areas of India shall not entitle a person for grant of registration under Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 to practice Modern Medicine in India"," stated the notice dated August 10.
The MCI notice comes in the wake of J&K High Court's direction in 2019-end -- on a plea filed by a Kashmiri girl who pursued her MBBS from a college in Mirpur, PoK but could not take the MCI screening test for foreign medical graduates as Mirpur is part of Indian territory -- asking the ministry of external affairs to consider her case.
The court had questioned why the Centre had never issued any advisory to create awareness among the citizens of India about the "connundrum created by the situation" arising from territories of India under illegal occupation.
Incidentally, UGC and AICTE have earlier advised students against seeking admission to colleges and professional courses in PoK. Yet, the Imran Khan government had in the pre-Covid days offered around 1,600 seats to Kashmiri students in colleges of Pakistan and PoK. These seats could however not be filled due to Covid-19 outbreak.
Security agencies had red-flagged Pakistan's overture to Kashmiri students, suspecting it to be a gameplan to radicalise the Kashmiri students before they head back home.
Union minister of state in the PMO Jitendra Singh on Thursday said that neither will those having qualification from medical colleges in Pakistan-occupied J&K and Ladakh (PoJKL) be registered nor those possessing such certificates allowed to practice modern medicine in India. "This should have been done many years ago. It is in keeping with the unanimous resolution passed by Indian Parliament in 1994," he told TOI.
The 1994 resolution had stated that the state of J&K (now bifurcated into two separate UTs of J&K and Ladakh) has been, is and will be an integral part of India.
Incidentally, Pakistan recognises the colleges in PoK and had been offering reserved seats in medical colleges of PoK and Pakistan to Kashmiri students, besides extending scholarships to those recommended by Hurriyat Conference constituents, allegedly for a hefty commission charged by top Hurriyat functionaries. It is believed that separatist 'hawk' Syed Ali Shah Geelani recently quit as Hurriyat (Geelani) chairman over a tussle within the Hurriyat for control of this quota in professional colleges of Pakistan/PoK.
Intelligence sources said the Kashmiri students' were mostly seeking admission to colleges in Pakistan as PoK doesn't have many medical colleges of repute. The MCI notice technically puts brakes on practice of Kashmiri doctors, who have earned their degrees from PoK colleges, in India.