VIJAYAWADA: The medical students, who returned to India from Ukraine due to the Russian invasion, are waiting with bated breath for the Centre’s reply to the Supreme Court’s notice, likely to be given on September 5. The Supreme Court on August 26 sought a response from the Centre on the report submitted to Parliament by a committee on External Affairs on August 3 recommending that all the returned students should be allowed to complete their courses in India. Earlier, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Bharati Pravin Pawar told the Lok Sabha that the possibility of absorbing Ukrainereturned students in local medical colleges in India can be done only if they clear the qualifying examinations.
She also said that the students should also comply with Screening Test Regulations, 2002, or Foreign Medical Guarantee Licentiate Regulations, 2021. “There are no such provisions in the Indian Medical Council Act 1956 or the National Medical Commission Act, 2019 to accommodate or transfer medical students from any foreign medical institutes to Indian medical colleges,” the union minister pointed out. On the other hand, the Committee on External Affairs (2021-2022), in its 15th report to the Lok Sabha, has recommended that Ukraine-returned medical students should be accommodated in the Indian medical colleges. Though the students are attending online classes, physical practicals have taken a hit. And without classes, one cannot become a complete medical professional. As the new semester is about to start this month, the students are a worried lot.
A student from Guntur, who is pursuing MBBS at Zaporizhzhya State Medical University, said, “We can’t go on attending online classes, as we are not getting any practical knowledge, which is very important in medical education. The way we were treated by the locals before returning makes it difficult to even think about going to Ukraine. The situation might be worse now as the war rages.” About 20,000 Ukraine-returned students have kickstarted an online campaign seeking Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intervention in the issue. Another third-year medical student at Kharkiv National Medical University said, “After the unexpected and traumatic situation we faced in Ukraine, I’m worried about going to any country, forget Ukraine, for education. As we are in our third year, we can’t even start anew. So the government should take a favourable decision, considering the future of students.” Over 770 medical students returned to Andhra Pradesh from Ukraine.
Compared to India, medical education is less expensive in Ukraine. On an average, each student spends between Rs 25 lakh to Rs 30 lakh to pursue the five-year MBBS course and a one-year house surgeon course in Ukraine. Moreover, the students get good accommodation and learning facilities in universities and colleges in Ukraine. The parents are equally worried about their children’s future as six months have passed since the students’ return, and the Centre didn’t take any decision about their education. The father of a third-year MBBS student of Kharkiv National Medical University said the students should be accommodated in private medical colleges in India. “We sent our children to Ukraine because the medical education is comparatively cheap there and most of us are from middleclass families and we cannot afford education here. At this point, I’m hoping that at least the government allocates seats in private medical colleges,” he said. Parents’ Association of Ukraine MBBS Students has recently submitted a memorandum to the Centre and are hoping that it will take a decision in favour of the students.