KOLKATA: West Bengal government is yet to receive a response from the Centre to its proposal to accommodate medical students from the state who were forced to return home from war-torn Ukraine.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee wrote to prime minister Narendra Modi on March 19 requesting permission from National Medical Commission (NMC) to allow such students to enroll in Bengal colleges.
"The present stipulations of the NMC mandate that only those students who qualify National Entrance Eligibility Test (NEET-UG) can get admission into the Medical colleges. Many of the students who have returned from Ukraine do not meet this requirement. It is requested that the relevant guidelines may be relaxed a very special case to accommodate these students,’’ Mamata wrote in her letter to Modi.
Around 400 students from Bengal were pursuing medical courses in institutions in Ukraine which Russia invaded in February. The students managed to return home and they are sure about the future of their courses.
"There is no response from the Centre yet. We have not yet received any response from the Centre. We have sought an appointment with the chairman of the NMC but are yet to get a green signal from him,’’ said an official of the state government, adding, ‘’Unless the NMC gives the clearance, we cannot do anything to help these students."
In an attempt to help the students who returned from Ukraine, the state government has proposed that those among them, who are eligible for internships, be allowed to do the job at government-run medical colleges and hospitals in the state. For those, who are not eligible for internships, the state government wants them to be offered slots in private medical colleges in West Bengal.
Some of the students, who returned from Ukraine, are waiting for communication from the state government on whether they can complete their courses in the state. Many of the students are attending online classes conducted by their institutions in Ukraine.
Earlier, Mamata had met the students from Ukraine and assured them that her government would provide all help to them so as to help them resume their courses.