With thousands of Indian medical students forced to return home from war-torn Ukraine, their future now stares at uncertainty. While parents of many of these students and the Indian Medical Association (IMA) have urged the government to make provision for a one-time adjustment in Indian medical colleges, many experts believed that it may not be a practical possibility.
Speaking to the Indian Express, Lt Gen (retd) Dr Madhuri Kanitkar, vice-chancellor of the Nashik-based Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS), said the students returning from Ukraine cannot be automatically adjusted in the Indian medical colleges.
She said there’s a certain merit requirement in Indian colleges and the entry standard cannot be diluted for anyone. The students returning from Ukraine are from universities that have a very different teaching practice and curriculum, however, government authorities were looking for ways in which these students can be allowed to continue their learning till the time they get a chance to return to Ukraine.
“Any decision to rehabilitate or help students cannot be taken in isolation by universities. The National Medical Commission is looking at ways and means to address this issue,” Dr Kanitkar was quoted as saying.
MUHS has been compiling data of returning students and more than 100 students have already registered on the institution’s portal. Due to its low cost of medical education, Ukraine is one of the most preferred destinations for Indian students. Close to 24 percent of the overseas student strength in Ukrainian medical colleges are from India.
However, after the Russian attack over Ukraine last month, thousand of these students had to leave their studies mid-way and return to India. As part of the Indian government’s Operation Ganga, over 16,000 Indian students have already been brought back from Ukraine and the efforts to rescue the remaining are underway. On Thursday, more than 600 students stuck in the Ukrainian city of Sumy were evacuated by the Indian authorities.
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