New Delhi: The strife-torn situation in Ukraine, however, put the spotlight on the reasons for Indian students opting for Ukraine as a major destination to study medicine. Interestingly, many of the students, who have been evacuated by the Indian government are studying medicine in Ukraine. As per the Indian embassy in Kyiv, there are approximately 18000 Indian students studying medicine and engineering in Ukrainian universities.
The Indian students are the largest group of the 76,000 international students studying in Ukraine. Students from other countries like China, Turkey, Israel, Uzbekistan among others also prefer Ukraine as a major destination to pursue their higher studies.
"It's very cheap to study medicine in Ukraine. A student needs to pay at least Rs 60 lakh to Rs 1 crore to study medicine in a private college in India whereas in Ukraine it takes only Rs 15 to Rs 22 lakh to pursue a degree from a medical college," said Dr. Sahajanand Singh, president of Indian Medical Association (IMA) to ETV Bharat.
There is no requirement to appear for any entrance examination to get a seat in a medical college in Ukraine. Significantly, almost all the Universities in Ukraine are accredited by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the medical degree from the universities in Ukraine are also recognized by many other countries including the European Council of Medicine and the General Medical Council of the United Kingdom.
What has made Ukraine a major destination for Indian students is the fact that the medium of instruction in colleges is English which means Indians don't have to learn any foreign language.
When this correspondent contacted the parents of one such student who is pursuing her career in the field of medicine in Ukraine, he said that the amount required to study a particular course is very economical. "My daughter went to Ukraine last year to pursue her career in the field of medicine. She was a very brilliant student and always dreamt to be a doctor. Before we sent her to Ukraine, she appeared in the NEET examination also. However, in spite of her hard try, luck did not favor us...," said Shankar Debnath, father of Ishika Debnath who was evacuated From Ukraine by the Indian government.
Ishika who hails from Shillong in Meghalaya was the first student from the State who was evacuated from the strife-torn Ukraine. When asked what Ishika will do now, Debnath said that she was communicated by college authorities that the colleges will be closed for two weeks due to the present situation. "Before we send her to Ukraine, we enquired about the fee structure in private colleges in India and we came to understand that Ukraine will be the best option," said Debnath.
Many of the private colleges from across India told us that their fee structure is very economical, "but we have to give them donations," added Debnath. It's also a fact that getting a seat in government medical college is also very tough given the fact that there is a huge number of candidates against a single seat.
More than 16 lakh students applied for NEET-UG for 2021 which indicates that for every MBBS seat in India, there are more than 16 applicants. At present, there are nearly 90,000 MBBS seats across India. In addition to this, there are around 536 medical colleges for India's total population.
When this correspondent talked with a large section of people it has also come to light that sending Indian students to study medicine, engineering or other courses abroad is also a lucrative business for many.
"An agent gets almost Rs 2 lakh as commission from a student who is interested to pursue medicine abroad," said a person privy to this business.
