For months, the graduates and their parents have been insisting they should be allowed to skip a Ministry of Education qualification test and an internship at an appointed local hospital before they participate in the state licensing examination.

The Taiwan Association of Medical Students took the case to the nation's top government watchdog body, the Control Yuan, yesterday, accusing the Ministry of Examinations of having changed its decision in favor of the graduates from Poland after pressure by their often influential parents.

At a meeting last Wednesday, the ministry decided to allow the Taiwanese graduates of Polish medical schools to register for the examinations, but stipulated that they would be allowed to obtain the final diploma if they complied with all the preconditions, including the internship period. An estimated 35 graduates were expected to benefit from the change, but the students' association suspected the ministry to have given in to undue pressure.

The ministry said it would cooperate with any investigation from the Control Yuan at the request of the students.

The original Physician Act gave exemptions from the MOE test and the internship to graduates from medical schools in the United States, the European Union, Singapore, Hong Kong and other nations, but an amendment approved by the Cabinet last month abolished the preferential treatment.

The test and the internship became required of all students, regardless where they had graduated.

However, in July, Examinations Minister Yung Chaur-shin chaired meetings where he insisted on a softer approach, because it would unfair to students overseas to change the rules too drastically.

The next round of state licensing exams for physicians is scheduled for Aug. 1, reports said.