Indian students from Ukraine: Absorb us in local medical colleges

Tribune News Service

Deepkamal Kaur

Jalandhar, March 5

Uncertainty looms large on the minds of MBBS students who were studying in the now war-torn Ukraine. There is no clarity yet in sight from the university authorities, even parents are uncertain about their wards’ future and apprehend a long pause in their academic career.

Dr Lalit Sandal of Jalandhar, whose son Bhaveeshya Sandal is in the last year of MBBS at Kharkiv, said: “After such a massive destruction in Kharkiv, it could take months before students can rejoin the course. Some alternate measures need to be thought about thousands of these students.”

Ramesh Chander, father of final year MBBS student Shivani who returned back from Uzhhorod, said, “Had things remained normal for another three months, my daughter would have finished the course. But now, we expect the degree to get delayed. Once she clears it, only then she can sit for the Foreign Medical Graduates Examination for practice here.”

Those from the first, second and third year of MBBS, want colleges in Punjab to absorb them so that they do not have to go back and face a similar risk. Navdeep Singh, a businessman, whose son Pukhraj Singh is in the second year of his MBBS at Kharkiv, said: “We do not know if the university will allow my son and others online classes. We do not know if we will be able to send our children back to Kharkiv. His future has certainly come on crossroads all of a sudden.”

Commenting on the proposal made by parents of absorbing students here, Dr Navjot Dahiya, Vice President, Indian Medical Association said: “I have all the sympathies with the families who have their children caught up in a tense situation in Ukraine but there is no way by which these students can now be absorbed in Punjab colleges. Some of these students had ranks beyond 2.5 lakh. How can we allow them in MBBS when students of the same rank are doing dental or even nursing degrees? Will it not be injustice to our local students?”

Willing to appear in any exam

Patiala: Some of the students have said they are ready to take any exam for getting accommodated in Indian medical colleges. Chandan, a fourth-year MBBS student in Ukraine, said: “We don’t know whether we will be able to complete our degree or not. Even if the situation turns normal in Ukraine, there will be a gap in our studies. Therefore, the government should find out some mechanism to allow us to continue our studies in India.” TNS

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