With uncertainty looming large over the future of the medical students who returned from war-torn Ukraine, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin have called upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi to help students who are returning from there to continue medical education in India.
In a letter to the Prime Minister on Monday, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister said that his government would provide unstinted support to the central government in all its efforts on this issue. He said that due to the present situation in Ukraine it would not be possible for the students to return to their Universities to continue medical education. The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister said that uncertainties would continue even after hostilities end and till normalcy is restored.
Stalin said that the current situation has already disrupted the studies of these students and that the future of the students was hanging in balance. He also urged the Prime Minister to urgently take this issue up with the National Medical Commission and the relevant ministries and to find a solution of the problem. He said that the concerned ministries may be given the direction to immediately find a way out to enable students to continue their studies in Indian medical colleges from the stage at which their studies in Ukraine were disrupted. The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister said that 1,200 students from the state have already reached home and that the remaining are expected to return in a couple of days.
Meanwhile, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in a letter to the Prime Minister said a large number of students from Odisha and other parts of the country had to return, adding that the disruption in studies is likely to continue until the cessation of the hostilities and restoration of normalcy in the East European nation.
“This is an unprecedented crisis that has the potential of disrupting the careers of several thousands of young men and women who have already gone through the trauma of being in the war zone,” he said.
“I would, therefore, request for your urgent intervention with the National Medical Commission and the ministries concerned, to enable and facilitate continuance of their studies in the medical colleges in India from the stage from which their studies in Ukraine have been disrupted on account of the war,” Patnaik said in the letter to Modi. The CM also assured full support of his government in this regard.
BJD leader in Rajya Sabha, Prasanna Acharya, had also written to Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Saturday, urging him to make alternative arrangements for smooth continuation of medical education of the students, who have been evacuated from war-torn Ukraine.
It has been reported that the Union government is in discussion with the National Medical Commission for accommodating the Indian medical students. Students pursuing medicine from foreign universities need to clear the 'Foreign Medical Graduate Examination' (FMGE) in India to start practice in the country. According to a source, the government is considering the provisions on 'humanitarian ground' to make some changes in FMGE to adjust these students in medical colleges in the country.
The source said that the concerned departments are looking into the matter "seriously" and "will do whatever possible" to ensure that the evacuated students can continue their studies. In this regard, the Union Health Ministry will soon consult with the NITI Ayog and other Medical Commissions to take a decision in this regard, the source added.
Meanwhile, the Indian Medical Association has also written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the uncertainty looming on the fate and future of these medical students.
The IMA has recommended, "all the evacuated medical education learners who are Indian Citizens and have procured admissions there upon seeking eligibility certificate from the statutory authorities in India and at various stages of progression there be adjusted as a onetime measure in existing medical schools in the country through an appropriate disbursed distribution..."