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‘Out of options’ — new NMC rules add to confusion for medical students back from Ukraine, China

National Medical Commission Thursday issued a circular with rules on how foreign medical students forced to return from Ukraine & China can continue their education.

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New Delhi: The thousands of Indian medical students evacuated from Ukraine after it was invaded by Russia, and China in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, continue to face doubts about how they will complete their degrees.

The National Medical Commission (NMC) Thursday issued a circular with rules for such foreign medical students, but it appears to have left students even more confounded.

In the circular, the NMC said that it “doesn’t approve of mobility programmes”. This means that if some Ukrainian universities consider moving their operations to a neighbouring country, like Poland or Latvia, or pursue tie-ups with other universities outside of Ukraine for a limited period of time, the Indian regulatory body will not recognise the degree earned by students attending classes in the new location.

Students remain unsure about why such a rule has been introduced by the NMC, as their licence to practice is anyway subject to the Foreign Medical Graduates Examination (FMGE), a screening test conducted by the National Board of Examination (NBE) and mandated by the regulator.

Another rule says there are no “restrictions” on transfers to other colleges except for first-year students who began their studies after 18 November 2021. But those eligible for transfers fear it could entail redoing a couple of semesters.

Final-year students, says NMC, will be allowed to sit for the upcoming FMGE in December so long as they have received their “certificate of completion of course/degree by their respective institute” on or before 30 June 2022.

However, many students received their certificates only on 10 July and fear they will be made to wait until the next FMGE in June 2023. The FMGE allows medical graduates from certain countries to get permanent registration in India and is conducted twice every year in June and December.

The NMC has also said that students will not be accommodated in Indian medical colleges under any circumstances.

Speaking to ThePrint, Niranjana Santhosh, a fifth-year student of Sumy State University in Ukraine who is currently in an observership programme at a hospital in Kerala, said that with the NMC refusing to accommodate students in Indian medical colleges and ruling out mobility programmes, she is “out of options”.

“My university is considering shifting its campus to Poland or Latvia due to the war. But the NMC has said it doesn’t approve of mobility programmes,” the 22-year-old said.

The new NMC rules come weeks after the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs said it was “deeply concerned” that students have neither been able to return to Ukraine or China to rejoin their universities nor complete their training in India.

About 20,000 Indian students in Ukraine had their courses interrupted when the war broke out this February and they had to be evacuated. Another 23,000 from China have been stuck in India since early 2020 due to Beijing’s visa restrictions, which were only lifted in June this year.

Although the Chinese foreign ministry said Friday that it is working on a new visa policy for international students, those in India remain sceptical and claim their universities are yet to receive instructions from the Chinese government.

ThePrint reached NMC Chairman Suresh Sharma over the phone to ask whether certain rules released by the regulatory body will be reviewed given students’ concerns. “Everything that needs to be said has been mentioned on the NMC website. I have nothing more to add,” he said.


Also read: Crime, pollution, difficult application process — Why India isn’t a top pick of ASEAN students


Fear of losing time

Students fear transfers could entail losing a couple of semesters if they have fewer credits than required.

Gracy Arora, 20, a second-year student at Vinnitsa National Medical University in Ukraine, explained: “The NMC has said transfers are allowed, but there are many issues that come with that. First, we have to get transcripts, which means we either have to physically go to Ukraine or pay a hefty fees to an agent who can retrieve them. More importantly, we risk losing a couple semesters or even a year if we transfer, due to unmatched credits.”

Even so, some students have taken up transfers saying it is “better than online classes”.

“I was a third-year [student] at Nantong University [in China] and now I will be transferring to Georgian National University in Georgia. I will have to re-do three semesters as there are some extra subjects that I need to get credits for,” said Aman Deshmukh, who will be flying to Georgia on 25 August.

“I’m losing one-and-a-half years of studying but it is better than online classes. Also, I want to start my practical classes as soon as possible.”

The 22-year-old said he had grown “increasingly frustrated” with Nantong University’s “unresponsiveness”, adding that he is still waiting for a transfer certificate from the university.

“Thankfully, Georgian National University said I can start studying without a transfer certificate. It will only be necessary for graduation and when I want to apply for an internship at a hospital,” he added.

A fourth-year student from Hubei University of Medicine, who wished to remain anonymous, also claimed that the quality of teaching in online mode has deteriorated in the past year.

“Since 2020, there has been a proper schedule and timetable for online classes. But there were times when some teachers would simply email us their PPTs (PowerPoint presentations) instead of teaching us over DingTalk (a communication and collaboration platform). We also haven’t had the opportunity to get any clinical practice, which is hampering our studies,” the student told ThePrint.

Students taking online classes continue to pay for tuition, but are exempt from hostel and insurance fees.

Confusion over FMGE

For final-year students, too, things remain uncertain. The NMC is allowing them to sit for the FMGE in December as long as they have received their certificates of completion before 30 June, but some, like 23-year-old Aanchal Srivastav, a final-year student at Hubei University of Medicine in China, received their certificates after the cut-off date.

“Most of my batch and I received our certificates on 10 July. There has been no information from the NMC on whether we will be accommodated. If we aren’t, we’ll have to waste another six months and take the next exam in June,” Srivastav told ThePrint.

In July, about 250 students staged a protest outside the NMC’s office in Delhi over delays in the regulatory body’s decision on how to accommodate them.

(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)


Also read: How DU is going out of its way to help students from conflict-hit regions get admission


 

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