A group of emergency medicine trainees are suing their specialist college for alleged systemic racism in its fellowship exams.

The seven IMGs of various ethnic backgrounds, including Indian, Burmese, Singapore Chinese, Sri Lankan and Fijian, are demanding to be given the fellowship, financial compensation and an apology from the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM).

The long-running dispute rests on a revamp of the college’s final clinical exam – a role-play conducted with actors. Marking for the exam was restructured in 2015, giving examiners greater latitude over marking.

The group claim in their application of alleged unlawful discrimination to the Federal Circuit Court of Australia that pass rates for non-Caucasian doctors plummeted compared with rates for Caucasian doctors after the changes.