More than 42,000 foreign medical graduates sat the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE) across India on Saturday, October 31, in an additional session the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) added this year after protests over the June sitting. According to NBEMS figures reported by the Times of India and Mirror Now, 42,438 candidates registered for the test, 42,109 were issued admit cards and 329 were declared ineligible.

Source: Times of India via 7globe

The computer-based screening test — which a foreign medical graduate must clear to begin an internship and register with a state medical council in India — was held at 104 centres in 76 cities across 30 states, in two shifts, from 9 am to 11.33 am and from 2 pm to 4.33 pm. NBEMS deployed more than 4,500 personnel and set up a central command centre at its Dwarka headquarters in New Delhi, with live CCTV surveillance of centres, Mirror Now reported.

Why an extra sitting this year

Until this year the FMGE was held twice a year. After the June 2026 session, in which only 4,636 of 37,448 candidates passed — a pass rate of 12.38 per cent — candidates protested for a week over the result, the paper pattern and video-based questions, Education Times reported. NBEMS then announced the exam would be held three times a year, with the additional sitting on October 31, 2026, and the sitting earlier planned for January 9, 2027 moved to a later date in January or February 2027, Medical Dialogues reported.

Source: Medical Dialogues

NBEMS also agreed that the June results would stand after an expert committee review advised against compensatory marks, while candidates would be able to see their individual question, answer and response IDs and marks on the applicant portal, according to Education Times. For Saturday's candidates, the result will decide how soon they can start their internships and apply for registration to practise medicine in India.