NEW DELHI, March 1: The Indian medical students studying in war-torn Ukraine are facing the same uncertain future as their counterparts studying in the Chinese universities faced two years ago when Corona pandemic struck the world.
They are being forced to leave their universities in the middle of the course and are not sure if ever they will be able to return to complete the studies or what will be the condition of the place they stayed once the war is over. They say their future in terms of returning to their universities and finishing courses offline is bleak.
The National Medical Commission does not recognise online education which, according to the students stranded in India, causes loss of multiple years for them. Both sets of students complain that there is no end in sight, which is adding to their trauma.
Students registered in China say that after two uncertain years, due to COVID-19 restrictions, many have shifted to colleges in Armenia to finish their course, while others (specially those in the final year) have repeatedly appealed to the Indian government to intervene and help them return to China but so far no clear instructions have been issued by the government.
The reason behind a large number of Indian students flying out to study abroad, more particularly the medical students, is the shortage of medical seats in India and skyrocketing college fees in private establishments.
“An MBBS seat in a private college costs anywhere an upward of ₹90 lakh, which in countries like China, Russia and Ukraine can be completed in half the cost and with better access to latest technology. The lack of seats in India makes the environment extremely tough for students from the middle-income group. Now, many students who were studying in various universities in China have shifted to colleges in Armenia because they don’t see any future in India or China and over two years have passed by,’’ said Vinaya Chandran from Wuhan University, China. He is all set to finish his course in the next three months. His juniors were apprehensive about how this crisis was going to play out, he added.
“The two governments should help the children secure a future and not leave us in the lurch. Nobody opts to leave their parents and a familiar home turf to go into a totally new country and put themselves at so much stress if things are available and regulated at home. The Indian government shouldn’t punish us for wanting a secure future,’’ stated another student from China.
Senior Health Ministry officials said the matter had to be looked at by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and that it was working towards increasing the number of medical seats. The National Medical Commission’s latest guidelines noted that private medical colleges and deemed universities should charge fees for 50% of their seats on a par with the government medical colleges in that State or Union Territory.
“This benefit would go first to those admitted under the government quota and if the government quota seats are less than 50% of the total sanctioned ones, then the remaining candidates will avail the benefit of fee equivalent to the fees of the government medical college, purely based on merit,” an official memorandum issued on February 3 said.
Students from Ukraine said their university was closed and currently reaching a safe place was a priority. “We don’t know when things will normalise or when we can head back. We may even have to repeat the year. It’s all in a flux right now,’’ said P. Sahoo, who is now back home from Ukraine. If India developed its medical sector and increased the number of government medical colleges no student would ever head out of the country. “We are forced to travel out because it’s so expensive to do graduation in medicine in India,”’ he added.
(Manas Dasgupta)