The government on Thursday told the Supreme Court that the law does not allow undergraduate medical students, who fled the "war-like situation" in Ukraine, to be accommodated in Indian medical colleges.
The affidavit from the Health Ministry was in response to petitions filed by students, in their first to fourth years of undergraduate medical studies in Ukraine, seeking transfer to colleges in India to continue their semesters here.
“So far as such students are concerned, there are no provisions either under the Indian Medical Council Act of 1956 or the National Medical Commission (NMC) Act 2019 as well as the Regulations to accommodate or transfer medical students from any foreign medical institutes/colleges to Indian medical colleges. Till now, no permission has been given by the NMC to transfer or accommodate any foreign medical students in any Indian medical institute/university,” the Ministry said.
However, the Centre said, in order to "aid and assist such returnee students who could not complete their MBBS courses in Ukraine, the NMC, in consultation with the Ministry of External Affairs, has issued a public notice on September 9 indicating that the NMC would accept completion of their remaining course in other foreign countries (with the approval of parent university in Ukraine)".
"Further, after such completion, the certificate of course completion/degree is expected to be issued by the parent institutions in Ukraine," the affidavit said.
The affidavit clarified that this global "academic mobility programme" mentioned in the September 9 public notice cannot be interpreted to mean accommodation of the Ukraine-returned students in Indian colleges.
"The extant regulations in India do not permit migration of students from foreign universities to India. The public notice cannot be used as a back door entry into Indian colleges offering undergraduate courses," the government explained.
Two reasons
The government said these students had left for foreign universities for two reasons, poor marks in NEET exam and affordability of medical education in foreign countries.
"In case these students with poor merit are allowed admission to premier medical colleges in India by default, there may be several litigations from desirous candidates who could not get seats in these colleges and have taken admission in either lesser known colleges or have been deprived of a seat in medical colleges," the affidavit reasoned.
Besides, these students, if admitted in Indian colleges, would again face the problem of affordability.
