The Union government has stated that there is currently no authorization from the National Medical Commission (NMC) to accommodate Indian students who were compelled to quit Ukraine earlier this year in Indian medical institutes.In response to a query on Tuesday, Bharati Pravin Pawar, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, stated, “Foreign Medical Students/Graduates are either covered by “Screening Test Regulations, 2002” or “Foreign Medical Graduate Licentiate Regulations, 2021.”There are no provisions under the Indian Medical Council Act of 1956 or the National Medical Commission Act of 2019, nor in the Regulations, to accommodate or transfer medical students from international medical universities to Indian medical colleges. The NMC has not granted authorization for any foreign medical students to be transferred or accommodated in any Indian medical institute/university.””NMC, for the benefit of Indian students pursuing medical studies abroad, has allowed foreign medical graduates with incomplete internships due to compelling circumstances beyond their control, such as war, Covid 19, etc., to complete their remaining part of their internship in India subject to the condition that they have cleared FMGE (Screening Test), which is mandatory for students with foreign medical qualifications to practise.The NMC had allowed returning foreign medical students to complete the remainder of their internship in India through a circular issued in March, subject to the condition that they had cleared the FMGE (Screening Test), which is required for Indian students with foreign medical qualifications to practise medicine in India.Surprisingly, neighbouring nations, notably Russia, are accepting students who have returned from Ukraine without penalising them for past academic years. Students from throughout the country are protesting and staging hunger strikes in Delhi, hoping to put pressure on the responsible authorities to admit students in Indian colleges.
By Subhechcha Ganguly
