COVID-19: No, MCI Hasn’t Asked Hospitals To Recruit MBBS Interns

The message is completely fake as no such circular has been issued by the Medical Council of India.

A circular attributed to the Medical Council of India (MCI) is being circulated to state that all Government and Private Medical Colleges are advised to recruit MBBS undergraduate interns and students.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

CLAIM

As the world grapples with coronavirus, doctors and healthcare workers have been at the forefront in the fight against the pandemic. However, even doctors have not been marked safe from misinformation being spread on social media.

In one such claim, a circular attributed to the Medical Council of India (MCI) is being circulated to state that all Government and Private Medical Colleges are advised to recruit MBBS undergraduate interns and students of part 2 third MBBS starting 3 April.

The Quint received the message on its WhatsApp helpline.

(Source: WhatsApp/Screenshot)

TRUE OR FALSE?

The message is fake and no such circular has been issued by the Medical Council of India.

WHAT WE FOUND

A simple look at the circular exposed certain inconsistencies and raised some questions about its authenticity. While COVID-19 has been referred to as an epidemic in the subject line, the body refers to it as a pandemic.

Further, we observed multiple grammatical errors in the last line.

Next, we visited the website of the Medical Council of India and found a clarification issued by the organisation stating that the aforementioned circular is fake and no such decision has been taken neither by the Board of Governors (BoG) nor by the Council itself.

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