As India has launched an evacuation mission Operation Ganga under which the Indians from Hungary, Romania, Poland and Slovakia are being brought back home after they exited Ukraine through its land border crossings amid Russian invasion, Parliamentary Minister Pralhad Joshi yesterday courted controversy after saying that “90% of Indians who study medicine abroad fail to clear qualifying exams in India."
Students who complete Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery or MBBS degree abroad need to pass the Foreign Medical Graduates Examination to practise as doctors in India.
His comments came as thousands of Indian students, mostly those studying medicine, are trapped in Ukraine as Russia is pressing on with its invasion of the country. A large number of students go to Ukraine from India to study because it is cheaper to pursue medical education there. Besides, the number of seats for medical courses is also higher in Ukraine than in India.
India has more than a million students in 99 countries, including one each in Serbia and Vietnam. The highest number of Indian students are studying in United Arab Emirates with 2,19,000 followed by United States of America with 2,11,930 students.
Here's a look at a total number of Indian students studying in countries other than India.
Meanwhile, SpiceJet will operate special evacuation flights from Kosice in Slovakia on March 3 and 4 and from Bucharest in Romania on March 4 and 6 to bring back home Indian nationals stranded in Ukraine.
The airline will use its Boeing 737 MAX aircraft for these special flights.
SpiceJet will operate ferry flights to Kosice on March 2 and 3 from Delhi and to Bucharest from Delhi and Amritsar on March 4 and 5.
The airline has already operated two evacuation flights under 'Operation Ganga'.
