In order to fill up the serious shortage of experts in the healthcare industry in India, the government is contemplating allowing Indian doctors with foreign PG degrees to return and practice at home. There is a strong possibility that the Indian government will soon start recognizing postgraduate medical degrees of 10 foreign countries. 

Officials from the Health Ministry have informed that the PG degrees of countries like France, Germany, Russia, Denmark, Ireland, Sweden, Italy, Singapore, South Africa and Spain are presently under consideration. Upon approval, the Indian doctors practicing in these foreign countries can come home and start practice even without a physical verification.

This decision is targeted towards lessening the crunch of trained doctors in India, in super specialty disciplines mainly. Until recently the degrees of those Indians who did their MBBS from a recognized domestic institute, but completed their PG from any of the above mentioned countries, was not recognized. 

This move has followed the decision of the ministry four months back to permit Indian doctors with PG degrees from UK, US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand to return and practise in India in any public or private hospital. To enable these Indian doctors to teach under-graduate students incase they wish to, the ministry is also thinking about amending the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956. It will allow Indian doctors returning home from these 15 countries to automatically become a faculty member of a medical college.