Karti slams MoHF for failing to offer solution to Ukraine medicos

CHENNAI: Congress MP from Sivagangai Karti P Chidambaram has slammed Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Mansukh Mandviya for not offering a solution to the issue of Indian medicos from Ukraine.

Posting a reply from the Union Minister, who had acknowledged the receipt of his August 3 dated letter in this regard, Karti on Wednesday tweeted, “In his reply, Hon’ble Health Minister @mansukhmandviya fails to offer any constructive solution on the issue of#Ukraine returned Indian medical students. NMC (National Medical Council) has given a nod to academic mobility progs, but what about students whose universities have not offered them this option?”

Drawing the Union Minister’s attention to the dire situation of the 20,000 Indian students, including 2,000 Tamil Nadu students who returned from war hit Ukraine, Karti, in his August 3 dated letter, asked the union government to facilitate the absorption of the foreign medical graduate returnees into the Indian medical education system. Describing war as an unprecedented phenomenon, the Congress MP said that the government should not let regulations formulated under normal circumstances govern the lives of the helpless students. Urging the government to formulate a policy on an ad hoc basis to allow the students to continue their education in India and become a valuable human resources for India’s healthcare system, Karti said that in 2021, 15.44 lakh students took NEET UG tests for 88,120 seats. Reasoning that those who could not clear the cut-off (marks) were forced to study at exorbitantly priced private colleges or in countries like with low-cost medical education such as Ukraine, Karti said that moving forward, there is a clear need to enhance quality and affordable medical infrastructure in India.