August 23rd 2023.
Hundreds of medical students from Madhya Pradesh are facing immense pressure as the Union government is not allowing them to transfer to other medical universities in Ukraine. Most of these students come from middle class families who have taken out hefty education loans or sold their properties to finance their studies.
Pratik Patidar from Indore has been visiting the offices of the National Medical Commission and Ministry of Health for the past two months in search of a solution, but to no avail. Pratik was flown back to India under Operation Ganga, a scheme launched by the Centre to bring Indian students home from Ukraine. He is currently in his third year and attending online classes, which are not enough for a practical-oriented discipline like medical science.
The Ukrainian airspace is closed and martial law is in place, making it impossible for the students to travel back for completing their education. Vandana Bharti from Khargone, whose farmer father sold off his land to finance her studies, asked, “If my parents had money, wouldn’t I have enrolled in a medical school in India?”
Kuldeep Ghotar from Barwani, whose father is a bank cashier, said that he and his family are feeling helpless after spending more than Rs 15 lakh on his education. Ashok Pachouri, another member of the Ukraine Students’ Association, Madhya Pradesh, said that many students and parents are suffering from depression. “What does the National Medical Commission want? Should we send our children to Ukraine to die or ruin their future by making them sit at home?” he asked.
The 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 that the regulations were relaxed earlier and students were allowed to complete their education from other universities.
The plight of these medical students from Madhya Pradesh is heartbreaking. While the Union government is doing their best to ensure the safety of its citizens, a viable solution must be found for these students so that they can complete their medical studies. The government should look into providing financial assistance to the students and their families, or allow them to transfer to other universities, so that they can continue to pursue their dreams.
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