The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on 3rd August 2021 has revised the guidelines for issuance of Statement of Need (SON) Certificate/ Exceptional Need Certificate (ENC)/ No Obligation to Return to India (NORI) Certificate
Key Highlights from the revised guidelines:
As per the new guidelines, applications for extension of Statement of Need Certificate (SON) and Exceptional Need Certificate (ENC) to Indian Medical doctors shall be processed only by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
For issuance of SON certificate, applicants shall be required to execute a Surety bond of Rs. ’10 Lakhs (Rupees Ten Lakh only) on a Non-judicial stamp paper of Rs.100/- (Rupees One Hundred only) with two sureties, out of which one will be a close relative and another one is not related to the applicant, both with sufficient financial standing.
SON will be issued to Foreign Medical Graduates (who do not have MCI Registration) by taking an affidavit from applicants that within 2 years of the completion of the course/ training, foreign medical graduates will acquire MCI registration (after successfully qualifying FMGE conducted by NBE).
Exceptional Need Certificate (ENC) will be issued to applicants’ for all specialty and super specialty where combined duration of fellowship program exceeds 7 years or where the ensuing fellowship program is an extension of earlier program that exceeds 7 years considering all previous training programs clubbing together.
NORI (No Obligation to Return to lndia) certificate shall not be issued in general, it may be issued to a person attaining 65 years of age.\
