It is a matter of great relief that most of the Indian students in Ukraine have reached India and the few who remain there will also reach soon. The way Russia has been bombarding Ukraine, destroying military and civilian infrastructure, it is a jigsaw puzzle when the medical and engineering institutions there would start functioning again. Even if the war ends soon, most parents may not be willing to risk their children’s lives by sending them to Ukraine to continue their studies. Many of the students have their original certificates with the colleges there. They had paid their fees in advance, and it is unlikely that they would get their money back. Far more worrisome is what they would do hereafter. The authorities concerned have allowed those students who completed their studies in Ukraine and other countries but could not do their house surgency there for reasons like war and Covid-19 to do the same in India. Seats have been earmarked for such students in Indian medical colleges. It is a welcome move. A similar approach should be adopted in the case of those who have been forced to return to India even before they could complete their studies. True, the standards of admission to the MBBS course in India and abroad are different. It is also true that many of the students who went abroad could not clear the entrance examination in India.
There is also the fact that some of the students went to Ukraine for studies because it is cheaper to study there than in a private medical college in India. Of course, in government medical colleges, the fee is relatively low. As there is the reservation for various categories of students in government colleges, those from the general category will have to score exceptionally high marks in NEET. To bring home the point, the student from Karnataka, who was unfortunately killed in Ukraine, had scored very high marks in the qualifying examination. Nonetheless, if the students who have returned are treated on a par with Indian medical students, the latter will certainly resent it. Allowance also has to be made for the fact that every year 1.1 million students leave India for higher studies. Those who do MBBS abroad are allowed to practice in India only if they clear an eligibility test. Barefoot doctors were a concept successfully tried out in China. As suggested by a medical expert, those who studied there can appear for a three-year degree course, after which they can practice medicine subject to some limitations.
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