Senate Bill 2880

(As Passed the Senate)

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 73-25-23, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO DIRECT THE STATE BOARD OF MEDICAL LICENSURE TO ISSUE A PHYSICIANS LICENSE TO A GRADUATE OF A FOREIGN MEDICAL SCHOOL WHO IS THE FORMER DIRECTOR OF A MISSISSIPPI STATE HOSPITAL; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. Section 73-25-23, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

73-25-23. The State Board of Medical Licensure is hereby authorized and empowered to grant limited institutional license for the practice of medicine in state institutions to graduates of foreign medical colleges approved by the National Educational Council for Foreign Medical Graduates or its successor, subject to the conditions as set out herein.

Any graduate of a foreign medical college approved by the organizations specified in the foregoing paragraph who is employed or is being considered for employment to practice medicine in one or more Mississippi state-supported institution(s) located in the same county shall make application for license to the State Board of Medical Licensure. The application shall be made on a form prescribed by the Board of Medical Licensure as required by laws of the State of Mississippi. The application shall also state the institution or institutions in which the applicant has assurance of employment. The State Board of Medical Licensure is hereby authorized to establish minimum standards of qualifications including moral, experience and proficiency for such applicants. The application and the board's recommendation shall be forwarded to the board of trustees and director of the institution(s) in which the applicant wishes to practice.

Upon receipt of such approved application from the State Board of Medical Licensure, the board of trustees or the governing authority and director of the institution or health center shall submit the application for review to the local medical society, the member of the Board of Trustees of the State Medical Association of that district and the member of the State Board of Medical Licensure of the district in which the institution is located. A formal recommendation from each of these, along with that of the board of trustees and director of the institution, shall become a part of the application, and shall then be returned to the State Board of Medical Licensure. If a majority of the recommendations are in favor of the applicant, the State Board of Medical Licensure may, in its discretion, issue a limited license to practice medicine. The holder of such a license shall be subject to all the laws of the State of Mississippi governing the practice of medicine.

Such license shall be for one (1) year and shall be in such form as the State Board of Medical Licensure shall prescribe, and shall be issued for practice in a particular institution and shall not be endorsable to another state. The license must be renewed annually, after such review as the State Board of Medical Licensure considers necessary. A graduate of a foreign medical school so licensed may hold such limited institutional license no longer than five (5) years. However, any graduate of a foreign medical school so licensed and employed by any state institution on January 1, 1981, shall not be subject to the five-year limitation created hereby, and the State Board of Medical Licensure, in its discretion, may waive the five-year limitation on limited institutional licenses for any other graduate of a foreign medical school who holds such license.

It is the intent of this section to enable Mississippi institutions to utilize the services of qualified graduates of foreign medical colleges during the period necessary for them to secure citizenship papers, and to meet other requirements for a regular license, including Educational Council for Foreign Medical Graduates certification. The State Board of Medical Licensure is hereby authorized, in its discretion, to refuse to renew, or to revoke such limited license if the holder of such license has failed to avail himself of the opportunity to take the examination for regular licensure after becoming eligible for such examination.

The State Board of Medical Licensure may establish reasonable and uniform license fees and shall make such rules and regulations as it considers necessary to carry out the purposes of this section.

The State Board of Medical Licensure is hereby authorized and directed to grant a full license for the practice of medicine to a graduate of a foreign medical school who has previously been granted an institutional license in one or more Mississippi state supported institutions for a twenty-nine-year period of time and who on July 1, 2001 was serving as director of a Mississippi state supported hospital and who has passed the clinical competency part of the Flex Examination for the State of Mississippi.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.