New Delhi: Hundreds of medical students who were evacuated from Ukraine after the Russian war gathered along with their parents at Jantar Mantar on Sunday to hold a symbolic demonstration demanding admission to Indian medical colleges for further studies.
As many as 12,000 medical students from India who were enrolled in different medical universities in Ukraine returned to their homeland after the Russian attack on the country. Most of them were rescued under Operation Ganga launched by the Government of India to bring back the students and other citizens stranded in the war-torn country.
The gathering of students and parents at Jantar Mantar in the national capital thanked Prime Minister Modi for bringing them home safely but also requested prompt steps to be taken for their future studies. “We have gathered here to demand that the government should make arrangements for our children to continue their studies in the Indian Medical institutions as soon as possible so that their academics do not suffer and they make good doctors who serve the country. We would be grateful to the prime minister for that,” said Dr. Rajesh Kumar Chandel who hails from Himachal Pradesh.
Dr Rajesh’s son Vivek was a 5th-year student of Kharkiv National Medical University Ukraine when he had to leave the country. As the situation in Ukraine continues to remain grim for more than 50 days, the Indian students who returned home stare at an uncertain future and, as such, want to be accommodated in Indian institutions.
There are 595 government and private medical colleges in India with a capacity of around 91,000 MBBS seats. Around 12 thousand MBBS students have returned from Ukraine after the Russian invasion. The institutions will have to increase the number of seats in order to accommodate these students in India.
The admissions to the Indian medical institutions are held through National Eligibility cun Entrance Test (NEET) conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA). So far there have not been any guidelines from the government or nodal agencies on accommodating the Ukraine-returned students to the Indian colleges. The AICTE did write to the technical institutions last week requesting them to consider admission of those students who returned from Ukraine and are willing to continue their further education in India. But any such initiative from the Government's end is still awaited.
Also read: Final-year Ukraine students to get MBBS degrees sans exam
