New Delhi: When the war sirens rang out in Ukraine last year, medical student Mohit Kumar scrambled to hide in a bunker. But now he only does his classes. Kumar says he has adapted to living in the war-torn country because the Indian government has given him no other viable option – he has to complete his medical degree in Ukraine.
Last October, the fifth-year student made his way back to Poland to return to Ternopil National Medical University in western Ukraine. Since then he has learned to tolerate the sights, sounds and hardships of war.
“I have just started my final semester and have opted for offline classes. Though war sirens sound at least twice every day, some of us no longer feel the need to go to bunkers. Sometimes when we are attending an important lecture, we just keep reading. We are used to it now,” says Kumar.
Shubham Sharma, another final year student at the same university, said the war was also causing financial loss and his family’s coffers were getting empty.
“The prices of food and basic amenities like electricity and housing have almost doubled. As international students, it has really increased our cost of living,” he said. However, like Kumar, he is used to sirens warning of possible air raids.
But students like Kumar and Sharma are not immune to fear. The first anniversary of the war, February 24, has everyone worried that Russia will mark the occasion with a refurbished wave of missile attacks. The West hasn’t been that affected by the Ukraine war, but things may be changing. There has been an increase in the frequency of phone calls from home, but all one can do is wait and see.
Two months ago in December, Union Minister of State for External Affairs Meenakshi Lekhi had told Parliament that 1,100 Indian students Still in Ukraine. He also said that the Indian mission in Kiev issued an advisory on 25 October asking all Indian nationals to “immediately leave Ukraine by available means”.
However, the Indian medical students, whose careers were at stake, claim they received little help within the country and had to return to Ukraine.
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Why did Indian students return to Ukraine?
When the Russia-Ukraine conflict first broke out, over 20,000 Indian students hurriedly returned home in search of safety.
However, many medical students say the home proved a hostile environment to continue their studies, forcing hundreds to return to the same place they had fled.
The primary reason was the guidelines of the National Medical Council (NMC), which prohibited medical students enrolled in Ukrainian universities to complete their degrees from Indian colleges.
The NMC, which regulates medical education and professionals in India, does not recognize degrees earned through online classes – which the Ukraine returnees were attending when they were back home – and requires students to complete at least 12 months of practical training. Training is required to be completed.
As the students could not be accommodated in Indian institutions, the NMC last August finally allowed An academic “mobility programme” has been proposed by Ukraine – although the regulator was initially opposed to the idea.
The program allowed Indian medical students from Ukrainian universities to apply for transfer to medical colleges from a list of 29 countries. The degree will be awarded by the Ukrainian university in which the student was enrolled.
The idea was that once the students completed their degree with practical training, they would be eligible to sit for India’s Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE), a screening test to practice in the country.
But there were serious practical problems for many students. While Indian colleges offer a five-year MBBS programme, Ukraine offers a six-year course. On top of that, it may take up to a year for the students to prepare for FMGE.
Students say that transferring to another foreign university would have put them at an even greater disadvantage in terms of study duration as they would have had to repeat a few semesters to meet the requirements of the host university.
In addition, the cost of relocation and living in another foreign country was simply unaffordable for many.
‘They don’t care about their own young doctors’
Despite their careers and futures in jeopardy, hundreds of medical students have booked their tickets back to Ukraine Warning Told professors and classmates that they would be coming at their “risk”, and would face possible air raids, explosions and inflated prices.
Many of the returnees were in their final year of studies. For them, relocating to another country seemed like a big risk as they felt they were running out of time.
Shubham Sharma of Ternopil National Medical University said that it was not possible for him to shift to another foreign university as he was in the final stages of his education when the war broke out.
He claimed, “Indian regulation helped first and second year students as they could transfer to other countries immediately, but students like us had no option but to come back.”
Another 23-year-old final year student from Jaipur, who did not wish to be named, said he was studying at the Bogomolets National Medical University in Kiev when the clashes broke out. He has now relocated to Uzhhorod, a city in western Ukraine.
Uzhhorod shares a border with NATO member nation Slovakia, so Indian students see it as a safe option. But, this, they know very well, can change.
The 23-year-old said the arrangement allows him to complete the course from Ukraine, as demanded by the NMC guidelines. Therefore, while his university is in Kiev, which has been under fire from russiaHe attends his classes online.
He said that there is a growing community of Indian students who are completing their education in this way. The student said he is hoping his university will find a way to allow him and fellow students to complete their practical training safely.
“The Indian government said we should get a degree from Ukraine while living in Ukraine, so that’s what we’re doing,” the 23-year-old said. “They don’t even care about their young doctors.”
Supreme Court last month Adjourned A bunch of petitions are seeking to allow Indian medical students who have returned from Ukraine to complete their education in India. It said that an expert committee constituted by the central government would take a decision on the issue.
(Edited by Asawari Singh)
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