Foreign medical graduates working as house surgeons at General Hospital, Ernakulam, have opposed their deployment as medical officers as part of the VIP duty system in which they are asked to accompany the entourage of dignitaries visiting the State, in ambulances to ensure emergency medical care.
In a letter to the District Medical Officer (DMO), they termed the posting as “unauthorised” and not prescribed by the National Medical Council.
“As house surgeons, we are treated as foreign medical graduate students not having satisfactory clinical exposure. We are supposed to treat patients only under the supervision of consultant doctors as we do not have permanent registration with the Kerala State Medical Council. But we are named and posted as doctors of General Hospital for VIP duty,” it said.
