NEW DELHI: In a departure from the earlier norm, the National Medical Commission (NMC) has allowed students who returned to India after the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war to take transfer to medical colleges in other countries.
While Indian students studying medicine in a foreign country could not move to other states mid-course, considering the special circumstances prevailing in Ukraine, the NMC said in a recent notification that its “no-objection for academic mobility programme in respect of Indian medical students who are studying in Ukraine provided that other criteria of screening test regulations 2002 are fulfilled”.
The rule earlier stated, “The entire course, training, and internship or clerkship shall be done in the same foreign medical institution throughout the course of study and no part of training/internship shall be done from other institute”.
The NMC said in its latest order, “It is informed that the mobility program offered by Ukraine has been considered in the Commission in consultation with Ministry of External Affairs, wherein it was intimated that the academic mobility program is a temporary relocation to other universities in different countries globally. However, the degree will be awarded by the parent Ukrainian University”.
Even as universities in Ukraine have begun operating, the prevailing geopolitical conditions are stopping students from attending them.