PIO doctors to be allowed to practise in India

The Govt spelled out plans to allow overseas Indian doctors to practise in their native country.

Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) will now have parity with NRIs on 'Inter-country adoption' and domestic airfares, government announced on Sunday while spelling out plans to allow overseas Indian doctors to practise in their native country.

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Announcing the new benefits on the first of the three-day 'Pravasi Bharatiya Divas', Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) Vayalar Ravi said the government was also likely to sign Social Security Agreement with countries like Netherlands, France, Sweden and Norway which have significant Indian population to ensure protection of their interests.

Labour pacts are also being negotiated with Gulf countries and Malaysia, which are host to a large Indian workers, to provide for specific steps to ensure their protection and welfare.

The MoU was signed with UAE recently and similar pacts are expected to be inked with Kuwait, Bahrain and other countries in the next few months, Ravi said.

"We have decided to extend a wider range of benefits to Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) cardholders," he said. These are parity with NRIs on 'Inter-country adoption', parity with resident Indian nationals in domestic airfares and parity with Indian nationals in entry fees for national parks and wildlife sanctuaries.