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With India’s medical regulator, the National Medical Commission (NMC) locked in a stalemate with state governments, the fate of some 18,000 Ukraine-returned medical students hangs in the balance.
Currently, there are no provisions under the NMC regulations to make allowances for Indian students studying medicine abroad to transfer to domestic medical college mid-session. Earlier in March this year, NMC had indicated that foreign medical graduates who had not completed their internship could finish it in India provided they had cleared the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination. But in May, the NMC wrote to the Union Health Ministry saying they had been directed by the Supreme Court of India to frame a scheme within two months to allow students to complete clinical training in Indian medical colleges.
With the Ukraine-returnees at various levels of their medical education, will a one-size-fits-all approach work? Some might be ready for internships while others might not. NMC will now need to assess students on a case by case basis, according to the Supreme Court order.
In Kerala, parents and 1,500 Ukraine-evacuated Keralite students have formed a group, All Kerala Ukraine Medical Students’ and Parents’ Association, demanding government action. Having taken hefty bank loans and paid the entire course fee for the 6-year-course, parents are worried that they will not be able to afford fees at private medical colleges in India.
Some students are trying to transfer to other universities in Europe. Sayyan, a third-year student at Kharkiv National Medical University is continuing with online classes at his university as he has already paid the semester fees. There are many others like him in the same situation. However, the quality of these classes with teachers delivering lessons from the safety of their bunkers are often compromised. Practical lessons are also non-existent in the online format.
In addition, in the absence of complete clarity or information, it is no easy task to transfer mid-session to other universities in countries such as Hungary, Poland or Romania.
A group of students in Chennai recently staged demonstrations demanding that they be admitted into Indian college. But even in cases where state governments are offering help, the NMC is posing a problem. Take for example, the West Bengal government has been pulled up by the NMC for promising to accommodate students from Ukraine. NMC claims that the West Bengal government did not seek permission from them before announcing this move.
Stuck in between this bureaucratic tug-of-war are the students. Hopefully, the Supreme Court order (when it arrives) will bring some clarity and provide direction to the students in limbo.
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