Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): About 300 students from Madhya Pradesh studying medical science in Ukraine are upset as Union government is not allowing them to shift to other medical schools. Though they are attending online classes, it doesn’t serve the purpose as medicine is a practical-oriented discipline.
Most students are from middle class families whose parents have taken education loans to bankroll their fees and other expenses. Some have even sold their properties.
Pratik Patidar from Indore who has been camping in Delhi for past two months said he had been visiting National Medical Commission’s office and Ministry of Health to find solution but to no avail.
Prateek has been attending online classes since he was flown to India under Operation Ganga launched by Centre to bring Indian students back from Ukraine. In third year now, he can no longer depend only on online classes. “War is far from over, airspace in Ukraine is closed and martial law is in place.
There is no way we can travel to Ukraine,” he said. Prateek is a student at VN Karazin Kharkiv Medical University in Ukraine. His father who is a farmer has spent Rs 12-14 lakh on his education. Vandana Bharti from Khargone who is in the third year at the same university says her farmer father sold off his land to finance her education.
“If my parents had money, wouldn’t I have enrolled in a medical school in India?” she asked. “Keeping war in view, we should be allowed to study in universities of neighbouring countries. But the government is not ready for it,” she added.
Kuldeep Ghotar from Barwani whose father is a bank cashier said he was depressed. “We have spent more than Rs 15 lakh. Now, we find that we have no future,” he added. Ashok Pachouri who is in third year said many students, parents were suffering from depression.
"What does NMC want? Should we send our children to Ukraine to die or ruin their future by making them sit at home,” asked Pachouri, a member of Ukraine Students’ Association, Madhya Pradesh.
Regulations
National Medical Commission’s Foreign Medical Graduate Licentiate Regulations, 2021, stipulate that all the medical students who have taken admission in MBBS courses in foreign universities before November 2021, have to complete their degree from the same university.
Students said Regulations were relaxed earlier and students were allowed to complete education from other varsities.
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