BENGALURU: As medical students evacuated from war-torn Ukraine stare at uncertainty over the continuation of their education, the State Government on Tuesday said the National Medical Commission (NMC) has to take a decision on their future and states do not have the power to make a new policy.
“The NMC formulates all policies related to medical education and there is no scope for state governments to make any new policy,” Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar responded to Congress deputy leader U T Khader’s suggestion that the government should help the students with their education.
Around 20,000 Indian students, including many from Karnataka, are studying medicine in Ukraine. Most of them were evacuated and the process is on to bring back others, the minister said. While the evacuation process is on, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai held a meeting with senior officers from the Medical Education Department and Vice-Chancellor of Rajiv Gandhi Health University to discuss the suggestions to be made to the NMC and on the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test(NEET), he said.
For under-graduate courses, 85 per cent of seats are allotted through the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) quota and 15 per cent from NEET counselling. For post-graduate seats, it is 50 per cent each, he said. “The government has decided to give NEET coaching at the taluk level. The PM had also announced that the government fee will be fixed for 50 per cent seats in all private medical colleges,” Sudhakar said.
Making efforts to bring Naveen’s body: Bommai
The State Government is making all efforts to bring the mortal remains of Naveen who was killed in Russian shelling in Ukraine’s Kharkiv last week, said Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Bommai said the Naveen’s body is kept in a mortuary in Ukraine. “At present, it is not easy to bring the mortal remains to Karnataka. I have spoken to Union External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. All attempts are being made to bring the body back immediately. Officials of the Indian Embassy, too, are in constant touch with the authorities concerned in this regard,” Bommai said.