The future of medical students who returned from Ukraine after the Russian invasion is still in jeopardy due to the Indian government’s continued ambiguity regarding how to assist and accommodate them. Even though many medical universities in Ukraine are set to start classes in September, students here are unable to return. These students demand to be given seats in Indian private medical schools as a temporary solution, however, there is yet to be a response by the National Medical Commission and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
A recommendation in the 15th report from the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs (2021–22) that they are accommodated in private institutions in India was a glimmer of hope.
Talking to News 18, many students and parents said they are grateful to the Indian government for helping them return safely but are reminded that their ordeal is far from over. They point out that the course, which needs long hours of practical training, cannot be compensated for with online classes.
Some of the students are also aware that their universities are destroyed during the war.
AP Janani, a first-year Vinnystia University student, has made the decision to retake her MBBS course abroad. But she and other students who enrolled in classes after November 18, 2021 are not permitted to transfer to another nation as per the National Medical Commission (NMC).
The NMC rules, which is published as a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) on August 18, 2022 says: “The entire course, training, and internship or clerkship shall be done in the same foreign medical institution throughout the course of study and no part of training/internship shall be done from other institute.”
“Going back ( to Ukraine) is not a safe option. And we see that we are not going to be offered seats in India. So I have no other option but to move to another country and start the course afresh. But to get a student visa, I need my Class 10th and 12th mark-sheets which are stuck in Ukraine. We request the Tamil Nadu government to make arrangements to provide for another original mark-sheets to students like me as duplicate mark-sheets even if provided by the government will not be accepted to provide a visa,” she said.
Last week, the Supreme Court issued notice to NMC and the Government of India to respond after hearing petitions from students who had returned from Ukraine seeking admission in India.
According to M R Gunasekaran of the Ukraine Medical Students Parents Association, returning students do so at their own risk. “Students of those universities situated in the western side of Ukraine, which is unaffected so far, are going back. Through arrangements made by agencies, they reach Moldova or Romania or Belarus and then reach the Ukraine border by road. But who gives the guarantee that there will be no damages henceforth too? Government of India is not asking us to go back neither giving us seats here,” he said.
Bharati Pravin, the union minister of state for health and family welfare, said in the Lok Sabha in July, that neither NMC Act, 2019, nor the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956, contain provisions for the admission or transfer of medical students from any foreign medical institution to Indian medical colleges.
Some Indian states including Tamil Nadu were among those who demanded the union government consider the plight of returnees from Ukraine. Last July, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin noted in his letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that his state had the most medical students returned from Ukraine and requested help from the union government for them to continue their studies.
According to Thai Prabu, the Ukraine Medical Students Parents Association has been at the forefront of organizing protests and writing petitions to get seats in Indian institutions for students who have returned from Ukraine. “He said students who went to study in Ukraine were no lesser. They have all passed the NEET exam. A student with 430 marks narrowly missed getting a seat in India. There are students who received much lower grades than those who went to Ukraine but they all managed to get admission in India because they could afford the exorbitant fee. All we say is that we are willing to pay the roughly Rs 6 lakh annual tuition that we pay for Ukrainian universities. Why are private institutions unable to sacrifice their profit for just this batch?” he said.
V N Lakshmi, who is a second-year student at Zaporozhye State Medical University in Ukraine, said that transferring to another country in accordance with NMC guidelines is challenging and expensive.
“Transferring to another country entails procedures similar to starting over at an institution. The cost of our six-year Ukraine visa was Rs 60,000. I now need to apply for a new visa. Enrolment fees must be paid just like for new admission. And during the evacuation, I had left all of my belongings at my university. There are library books in the dorm room that I can no longer return and for which I must pay a fine. It can be difficult to find a university in a more favorable country,” Lakshmi said.
The NMC says that foreign medical students can only take theory classes online. They must also take practical and clinical training in person.
Shruthika, who completed a one-year medicine programme at Kharkiv International Medical University is unsure of completing her MBBS programme.
For the upcoming academic year, she said, the university is keeping offering online courses. “But online courses are not approved by NMC. So I am worried that the course may not be valid at all even if I complete it. Neither I am permitted to transfer to a different institute abroad as per NMC rules nor I don’t have the money to start over in a foreign nation. So, looks like, I will be dropping the plan for MBBS. Maybe I will enroll in a paramedical or biotechnology programme in India,” said Shruthika, whose father works as a welder and fitter in the Indian Railways.
Unlike many, Sivaranjani Shanmugam, a third-year MBBS student at Uzzhord University, is prepared to return to Ukraine to finish her education there.
“The students have been welcomed back to the campus by my university. Since no airport in Ukraine is operational, they have made arrangements for us to obtain transit visas from Romania. Friends who have already arrived there have spoken to me to confirm the safety aspects. Even as there is no information from the Indian embassy, the university administration is in touch with us,” said Sivaranjini, who said other options weren’t feasible for her. “For her, transferring to a different country not only incurs additional costs but also a waste time. She had taken an education loan of Rs. 36 lakhs, which has to be repaid at any cost,” says her father Shanmugam.