The central government wants to bar doctors who have pursued medical courses in foreign countries from permanently settling abroad, especially in the United States, reported The Times of India. The Ministry of Health told the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court on Friday that it will no longer issue no-objection certificates to doctors who wish to settle abroad permanently after their higher studies.

“The government cannot be expected to facilitate the wish of doctors from India to permanently settle abroad, by certifying that their services are not required by the country, when the country is grappling with a severe shortage of doctors,'' the ministry told the court.

The ministry had submitted an affidavit opposing a petition filed by the Central Maharashtra Resident Doctors Association against the government's 2011 decision to stop issuing a No Obligation to Return to India, or Nori, certificate to doctors studying in the US, except to those aged 65 and above.

With a Nori certificate, students on a visitor exchange study programme do not need to return home for two years after the completion of their course, as is the mandatory rule in the US.