Medical students want to return to China, seek removal of impediments
PALAKKAD: Saranya S Sabu of Thiruvananthapuram is doing her third-year MBBS course at Ningbo University in Zhejiang province of China. She came to Kerala for her vacation on January 5, 2020, and has been stranded here since.
As Covid-19 broke out in China, students from the state studying in various universities there had been attending online classes after the vacation, but the number of cases in India increased in the first wave later.
“For the past one-and-a-half years, we have been attending classes and exams online. Unfortunately, we are unable to do practicals. To add to our woes, the Indian government is yet to recognise the online courses of China. There is a clause in China that medical graduation should be completed within eight years. Our course is for five years, followed by a 10-month internship. If the online course is not recognised in India, we will have to pay fees and attend regular classes all over again in China,” says Saranya. Ningbo is one of the 45 universities in China recognised by India for the MBBS course.
“Moreover, we are unable to complete our practical classes. Since our visa stands cancelled, it will be difficult for us to get bank loans,” she adds.
“We need to go back at the earliest. The Indian embassy needs to take up the matter with the Chinese authorities. Our future is at stake,” said A R Athira of Palakkad, a third-year medical student at Jilin University in Changchun.
The universities in China are placed above Indian varsities in world rankings, but there are too many impediments in India for students who pass out of these universities. One of the attractions for parents is that the cost of education is low in China. Depending on the university, the medical graduate course costs, on average, around Rs 6 lakh in fees for one year. The course can be completed for Rs 30 lakh,” said Andrews Mathew, president of Foreign Medical Graduate Parents Association, whose son Jonad Andrews is pursuing his third-year medical degree course from Jilin University.
The students who complete the course abroad have to pass the exams of the Medical Council of India (MCI). Most of the questions in this exam are of postgraduation level, he said. Mathew points out that more than 10,000 students are doing their medical courses in China alone. “Now, only emergency visa is available to return to China. One of the conditions stipulated is that the students should take two doses of the Chinese vaccine, which is not available in India, and complete 14 days’ quarantine. The External Affairs Ministry should seek clarifications from China on all this,” he said.
A Bill titled Draft Regulations for Foreign Medical Graduates (FMG) 2021 has been prepared by the National Medical Commission (NMC) on April 23. It is proposed to be introduced in Parliament in June. “According to that, all students after completing the MBBS course should register for the National Exit Test (NEXT) to assess the knowledge of pre- and para-clinical subjects as well. While students here should pass two papers, those who have passed their exams from abroad should pass an additional paper to qualify the screening test. Also, they must pass these three papers within a gap of two years of completing the MBBS course abroad. We want the government to extend the stipulation of two years to five years,” he added.
“There are a large number of senior students from Kerala alone who have been unable to return and complete their practicals. I hope China will clarify that WHO-approved vaccines are also recognised,” said Fadhl Mohammed Sageer, a second-year medical student at the Southeast University in Nanjing, China.