Hundreds of MBBS students enrolled in medical schools in war-torn Ukraine are fleeing for their lives. The immediate concern is their safety. Even after they arrive in India, though, the path ahead appears to be rocky.
Medical students from other countries are not permitted to transfer to Indian universities or even to other foreign institutions in the middle of their studies, according to the laws.
According to government data and estimates, there are approximately 18,000 Indian students in Ukraine, with about 80-90 percent of them MBBS students enrolling in about ten universities across the eastern European country.
According to the National Medical Commission, India’s medical education authority, foreign medical students must complete an MBBS programme of at least 54 months and a year of internship at the same foreign institution.
According to the Foreign Medical Graduate Licentiate Regulations of 2021, the entire course, training, and internship must be completed outside of India “in the same foreign medical institution throughout the course of study, and no part of medical training or internship shall be completed in India or any other country other than the country where the primary medical qualification is obtained.”
For MBBS graduates from outside the country to receive a licence to practise medicine in the country, they must pass the Foreign Medical Graduates Examination (FMGE), which is administered by the National Board of Examination under the Union Health Ministry.
In addition, international medical graduates must undergo an additional year of internship in India.
No rest On the anvil
According to Dr. Aruna Vanikar, the head of the NMC’s undergraduate board, there are currently no plans to offer any relief to medical students who have returned from Ukraine.
The government’s focus, according to officials in the Union health ministry, is the safe evacuation of students from Ukraine, and there are no internal debates about their academic future.
Even online lessons may not be an option for students who are needed to begin hospital duties as early as the second year if the situation in Ukraine does not improve in the next weeks.
According to experts, there is no precedent for MBBS students studying in India being accepted into Indian colleges during their training.
Dr C V Birmanandhan, who was vice president of the Medical Council of India before it was replaced by the NMC, said if the crisis persists, it will be difficult for the students from Ukraine.
“To my knowledge, it has never happened that students who choose to pursue MBBS outside India are enrolled in Indian medical colleges later under any circumstances,” he said. “I also feel that there is no room for unethical considerations on sympathetic grounds as medicine is unlike any other technical course and here patients’ lives are impacted by the training of the doctors.”
If MBBS students are unable to return to Ukraine to complete their training, the ex-MCI vice president proposed that they take the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test and, if qualified, begin their degree anew.
“But I do not know if the medical education regulator and the government think of any alternative option,” Birmanandhan said. “However, I believe that, sympathy aside, merit should be the sole factor for determining the regulators’ future conduct.”
