Cannot accommodate Ukraine returnee med students, says Centre

NEW DELHI: In a setback to thousands of undergraduate medical Indian students who were studying in Ukraine but had to return to the country in view of the war with Russia, the Centre on Thursday told the Supreme Court that they cannot be accommodated in medical colleges here for lack of provisions under the law.

In an affidavit, the Centre said that till now, no permission has been given by the National Medical Commission (NMC) to transfer or accommodate any foreign medical students in any Indian medical institute/University.

The government filed its response in a batch of petitions filed by students, who are undergraduate medical students of first to fourth-year batches in their respective foreign medical colleges/universities, who are primarily seeking transfer to medical colleges in India in their respective semesters.

“It is humbly submitted that in so far as such students are concerned, there are no such provisions either under the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 or the National Medical Commission Act, 2019 as well as the Regulations to accommodate or transfer medical students from any foreign medical institutes/colleges to Indian medical colleges”, the government said.

It, however, said that to aid and assist such returnee students who could not complete their MBBS courses in Ukraine, NMC in consultation with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has issued a Public Notice dated September 6, 2022, indicating that NMC would accept completion of their remaining courses in other countries (with the approval of parent university/Institution in Ukraine).