MBBS Abroad: Indian Medical students in China request the Government to intervene for their return

Mumbai: In order to successfully complete the MBBS course, around 23,000 Indian medical students who are currently studying at the universities in China have requested the Indian government to have a talk with the Chinese government regarding their return to China.

After the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, the students were returned to India in 2020 and ever since then they have been studying online.

But soon the National Medical Commission (NMC) passed an order stating that medical degrees through online mode learning are not recognized in India. So now the students are urging the Indian Government to help them regarding the matter.

Anhui University student in China, Shahroz Khan, who is originally from Rajasthan and is in his fifth year at the university, told "the order does not directly apply to us as our admissions are from before the pandemic and we have attended college in China. But it shows how important it is for us to return to China to complete the remaining part of the course offline."

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A notice was issued by the National Medical Council (NMC) on February 8 which warned the Indian students against enrolling in medical institutions in China and it was referred to Chinese travel limitations, discussing new admission notices sent to Indian students who wish to take medicine degree courses online.

Indian students were advised to take cautious decisions after receiving notices that medical degrees obtained through online learning are not considered valid in the nation. However, there is still no word on students who have been stranded in India as a result of the travel restrictions.

"University has started offline lectures for our courses. But nobody is vocal about when we can return", said Mukul Tiwari, a fourth-year medical student from Hubei University.

According to these students, Indians are specifically left behind as they get to know that the process has begun for the return of students from other countries.

Rachita Kurmi, a third-year medical student at Shandong University in China and a native of Mumbai told "Until now we were told that entry to all in China is restricted due to 'Zero Covid' Policy by the Chinese government. But recently, students from Pakistan, Mongolia among all are communicated about their return. Whereas there is still no development in case of us Indian students."

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"These students are suffering academically, financially and mentally for the past two years. With restrictions imposed, they are not able to return to China and doing medical education online is impossible in reality. If the Indian government coordinates with the Chinese government on this, these students can return to their education," said Faisal Shaikh, State General Secretary of the National Students Union of India (NSUI). Shaikh has also written a letter to the Minister of External Affairs of India S Jaishankar with a similar request.

Ravindrababu Konduri, professor of philosophy at the Hunan University of Technology, who has been communicating with students told The Indian Express, "Students from countries having friendly ties with China are seeing the process of return. But the situation is different for Indian students. It is important to focus on public diplomacy to help these students return to complete their course. And this requires a dialogue between the two countries."