“The Tamil Nadu government will initiate steps to send back students pursuing medicine in Ukraine to continue their education. I will highlight the issue when I meet the Union Health Minister soon,” said Minister for Health Ma. Subramanian in Madurai on Friday.
He said, suggestions were made to accommodate students – who were evacuated to India owing to war between Russia and Ukraine – in colleges where similar curriculum is followed in other countries .
The evacuated students from many private colleges and universities in Ukraine have been taking up their courses online since March. Following the announcements made by those medical institutions of resuming offline classes in September, the students have made representations to Chief Minister M.K. Stalin.
Also read: Why T.N. students head to Ukraine to study medicine
Mr. Subramanian said that he will surely take up the issue at the Centre for the benefit of the students.
He was addressing mediapersons after inspecting the Government Homeopathy Medical College in Tirumangalam, near here, accompanied by Health Secretary P. Senthil Kumar, Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine T.S. Selvavinayagam, Director of Indian Medicine and Homeopathy S. Ganesh, Collector S. Aneesh Shekhar and Madurai Medical College Dean A. Rathinavel.
He said that its students have been frequently petitioning about the poor condition of their college.
College re-establishment assessed
The college, spread across over 20 acre, houses around 300 students and the hospital is highly beneficial for people in the southern Tamil Nadu, said the Minister.
“Due to the expansion works including heightening of roads taken up by the National Highways Authority of India made the college premises a low-lying area, thereby water stagnates on its premises for months together during every rainy season,” he noted.
The classrooms, labs, hostels, administration buildings, seem almost unfit to use, said the Minister.
The local body administrators have suggested that building a kanmoi that connects with the Gundar river would solve the problem while the district administration have also identified areas nearby where the college can be re-established.
“The Collector has been directed to take up inspections with technicians at the present college premises and submit a report along with a feasibility certificate, within 10 days, of whether new buildings can be built again here,” said Mr. Subramanian.
“Until then, inspections will be taken up to temporarily accommodate the students at government medical colleges in Virudhunagar or Dindigul – the two places the students themselves suggested,” said the Minister.
“Seeking funds for the construction, at an estimated cost of ₹50 to ₹60 crore and urging to expedite the works of AIIMS at Madurai will be prioritised when I meet the Union Minister for Health,” he added.
Further, setting up new medical colleges at Tenkasi, Ranipet, Perambalur and Kanchipuram will also be stressed. The Minister also said that filling up of vacancies in various medical departments will be complete within September.
A final year student and clinical secretary of the student committee S. Deepak, cited that patient inflow is not adequate for the number of students studying here. “Since the hospital is situated in an interior location and lacks infrastructure, we are affected with not enough practical exposure – which is key in our field.” The hostel buildings were sealed three years as they were in a dilapidated condition, he added.
Another student lamented that studying here felt like a “private college that has burnt a hole in their pockets, despite securing a medical seat via merit criteria.
