The Union government on Thursday, September 15, told the Supreme Court that the medical students who returned from Ukraine cannot be accommodated in Indian universities, saying there is no provision allowing such a transfer in the National Medical Commission (NMC) Act, 2019. If any such relaxation is given, it would seriously hamper the standards of medical education in the country, the Union government said. It also said that such a transfer would be outside the scope of the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956.
The Union Ministry of Health went on to state that as far as returnee students are concerned, there are no such provisions either under the Indian Medical Council Act 1956 or the National Medical Commission Act, 2019 as well as other regulations to accommodate or transfer medical students from any foreign medical institutes/colleges to Indian medical colleges. “Till now, no permission has been given by the NMC to trade or accommodate any foreign medical students in any Indian medical institute/university," it said. It also said that such a move would “seriously hamper the standards of medical education in the country.”
The affidavit added that the aggrieved petitioners had gone to foreign countries for two reasons -- firstly, due to poor merit in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), and secondly due to the affordability of medical education in such foreign countries. "It is humbly submitted that in case these students with poor merit are allowed admission in premier medical colleges in India by default, there may be several litigations from those desirous candidates who could not get seats in these colleges and have taken admission in either lesser-known colleges or have been deprived of a seat in medical colleges,” it adds.
The affidavit added that the Union government in consultation with the NMC, the apex medical education regulatory body in the country, has taken proactive measures to assist returnee students from Ukraine, while balancing the need to maintain the requisite standard of medical education in the country. The Union government said that allegations with regard to Ukrainian universities refusing to entertain the applications of students for academic mobility in their first semester of the academic year 2022-23 were concerning. It also said that the allegations were completely vague, devoid of any details of the applicant students or the universities concerned.
The Union government’s response came on a batch of petitions filed by Indian students who have been evacuated from Ukraine and are seeking permission to continue medical study in India. One of the petitions, filed through advocate Ashwarya Sinha, said the education of 14,000 students has come to a halt and they are going through immense mental hardship.
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