Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala):Several Indian students pursuing MBBS in Chinese universities staged a protest outside the Kerala secretariat on Saturday seeking recognition of their physical training in India. The protest was held under the banner of Foreign Medical Graduates Parents Association (FMGPA) - an association of parents of medical students in foreign countries.
Forced to return to India after the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, the medical students have since been unable to return to their host country and continued their physical training at government and private hospitals in the state. Stuck in their home country due to the non-availability of visas from the Chinese authorities, the Indian students have resorted to completing their courses with the help of online classes.
"We were forced to come back from China in January 2020. It's been two years since we have been attending online classes. We don't have any recognition of whether the Indian government will accept us with these online classes. Most of us are doing are practicals at various government and private hospitals in Kerala, but is not recognised," Murshid Aleen, a fourth-year medical student at Yangzhou University told the media.
Worried about repaying their loans and completing their education, the student said they have communicated about their problems to the Central government through an online portal - Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS).
"We are helpless right now. We need a certificate from the government that we are going to the hospitals for a certain period and we are getting the observation with certain department," Aleen said. He further highlighted that China is presently facing another wave of COVID-19 and said that the situation there is becoming "more critical."