Future of medical students who returned from Ukraine in trouble

Kota: The parents of medico students in Kota, who returned from Ukraine, demanded completion of further studies of their wards in India.

The current situation, which arises out of the Russia-Ukraine war, has cast a cloud over the careers of thousands of Indian students pursuing MBBS in Ukraine.

Now the concern of the students and their parents has increased as they await an answer on when and how studies will continue.

The troubled parents of more than 20 medical students who returned from Ukraine to Kota, formed a guardians committee and held an emergency meeting at Ganesh Udyan in the city today.

Committee President Diwakar Joshi, Vice President Dharmendra Tank, General Secretary Rajendra Gothania, and Convener Vishnu Prasad Sharma thanked the central and state governments for the safe return of Indian medical students, who were stranded in Ukraine, to their homes.

In the meeting, the parents expressed concern over the degrees of students doing MBBS, paying low fees, from medical colleges of Ukraine and urged the Central and State Governments to make special arrangements so that students can complete their remaining studies in India so that they can provide their services by staying in the country. In the meeting, tribute was paid to the deceased Indian student from Kharkiv University, Naveen Shekhrappa.

Diwakar Joshi, president of the Guardian Committee, said that an important meeting will be held on March 20 at Chhatra Vilas Udyan, Nayapura in Kota for all the affected students and their parents, in which the children's career crisis and further studies will be discussed.

Indian students narrated the pain. Dhriti Joshi, a medical student from Kota, said that despite qualifying NEET she could not get a seat in the medical colleges of the country for being a general category student. "To do MBBS from private medical colleges here, a fee of more than one crore rupees was required, which our parents could not arrange," said Dhriti who added that due to such a situation, she decided to do MBBS from a medical college in Ukraine at comparatively low fees. But her future is now in jeopardy due to the war. A student of MBBS second year, Dhriti wants to complete her degree in India.

Swapnil Sharma, Harshit Ahuja, Vishal Gupta, Ashish Nagar, Ajay Kumar, Yaduvendra Malav, Jai Tak, Muktika Verma, Ishika Gautam, Nitin Chaudhary have returned from Ukraine.

Vishal said, "after qualifying NEET in the country, students with lower marks are given seats in government medical institutes, while those with higher NEET scores are refused admission. Because the government has little control over the collection of fees at the country's private medical institutions, unreasonable costs are charged, causing talented students to move for good education. The national government must take concrete steps to stop the looting of private medical institutions."