Can Ukraine Medicos be accommodated in Indian medical colleges? TN Medical Council holds emergency meeting
Chennai: Considering that a great number of medicos had to leave their courses midway and return to India due to the Ukrainian war, the State Medical Council has held an emergency virtual meeting to find out a way of helping the medicos. The president of Tamil Nadu Medical Council, Dr. K Senthil stated that these students cannot be accommodated in medical colleges as they have a fixed seat capacity.
He further added that the quality of Medical education will be hampered and this will do injustice to the other students who were unable to join the course after the counseling due to limited seats.
Previously, Medical Dialogues reported that the Indian Medical Association (IMA) had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and requested him to ensure that these students get enrolled in the Indian medical colleges as a one-time measure. The war between Ukraine and Russia has put a question mark on the future of several Indian medical students, who are enrolled at different medical institutes in Ukraine.
After rescuing the medical students stuck in war-hit Ukraine, now the Union Health Minister was contemplating the possible options for those students so that they can complete their medical education in India. However, the Tamil Nadu council has decided to write to the state government and the apex medical regulatory body, the National Medical Council on the issue.
Dr. Sentil, President of TN medical council told TOI, "We have nearly one lakh students who have returned from China and Philippines in 2020 when the pandemic broke out. After nearly two years, many are still not able to return to their universities because they haven't got their visas. If we accommodate students from Ukraine and Russia, what will be the fate of students from these countries."
"This will disrupt prescribed standards such as teacher-student ratio, infrastructure requirement, and facilities in medical colleges and eventually affect the quality of medical education. If we let this happen we will be causing irreparable damage to the healthcare system in India," Dr. Sentil said.
Furthermore, less than 20% of students who take the international medical graduate test, which is required for foreign graduates to practice in India, qualify for the exam. In this case, the kids will be exempted from that requirement. This is inequitable to graduates who have moved to other countries. In addition, the medicos who have returned are divided into groups. Without giving bridging courses, it may not be viable to urge colleges in this country to accept them, added the doctor.
On the other hand, parents and relatives of students from Ukraine and Russia have requested the government to consider the career of these medicos and to allow them to study medicine in the country. Rajiv S, whose nephew returned from a university in Kyiv told the daily, "It will be difficult for us to send our children back to these countries. It is a blessing that they have come here without harm." He added that none is disapproving the admission of students who returned from China and even holding an entrance for students is welcomed. " It will be very difficult for students who have completed three years to leave their course midway," he added.
Senior doctors and medical professors, however, believe that international medical students may not be able to attend Indian medical colleges. "The syllabus will be different in different universities. So, we can't create a one-size-fits-all bridge course for students even if they are from the same batch," said former DME Dr. Edwin Joe.
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