MELBOURNE, 21 March 2022: An estimated 18,000 to 20,000 Indian medical students are back home from Ukraine. Cheap medical education as compared to Indian private colleges lured them there. The Russia-Ukraine conflict has pushed them into a bleak future. These students were in different colleges there and in different stages. Online classes seem to be not the solution. One solution envisaged is that these students be adjusted in the different medical colleges in India. Will that happen or is anyone planning any other way is unknown. Parents who spent hefty sums by taking loans are tense and so are the students. The limbo situation has led the Supreme Court to be approached to do the needful.
A Public interest litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking admission and continuation of studies within India by Indian medical students who were recently evacuated from Ukraine. The PIL sought directions to the Centre to provide a medical subject equivalency orientation program for admitting them in the Indian curriculum, according to a PTI report.
The plea filed by advocate Rana Sandeep Bussa and others said that their writ petition seeks to invoke the most salient fundamental right guaranteed under Article 21 – the protection of life and personal liberty, reports livemint.com. A petition has also been filed by Pravasi Legal Cell before the Delhi High Court seeking direction to the Centre in this regard.
“The Government has the responsibility to protect the life and liberty of its Citizens Guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India not only in its Country but in foreign Countries also, especially when the Citizens are helpless and all mode of Transports is Shutdown. Government has to take and Adopt several Diplomatic measures,” says the Supreme Court petition.
What outcome the court petitions have remains to be seen. But the issue is hotting up across India. The question being asked is why so many go to such countries for medical education. One reason cited is the few seats and more applicants. And, the cost is too much in India. Media reports indicate there are 562 medical colleges (public and private) in the country and 1.6 million appeared for the entrance exam. Out of these 88,000 succeeded. So many cannot be accommodated with just an estimated 40,000 medical seats.
And, how much does medical education cost in India? A small article in Navbharat Gold (Hindi) is revealing – in govt colleges a five-year course costs less than one lakh rupees. There are 60,000 seats in private medical colleges. A five-year course in such college costs around 90 lakhs to one crore rupees. Plus, many students take coaching and that adds to the cost.
This has led to those willing to become a doctor going to cheaper courses in Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Bangladesh, China, Nepal, the Philippines, and so on. In 2015 3,438 students took medical admission overseas from India. In 2019, 12,321 went overseas for medical education. In fact, full stats are not available and there could be Indian medical students in other countries also.
Rama B. Varu writes in the wire.in, ” Medicine, like engineering, is seen as enhancing one’s social status and chances for making money. For many who travel for medical education abroad are the first generation educated in their families. The entrance to medical schools in India is constrained by numbers, quality and cost. Nearly 60% of medical colleges are in the private sector at the national level. The proportion of private colleges is higher in the southern and western states compared to the northern and eastern.
The aspirants for the available seats are high and those who are able to muster the common entrance exam constitute only a small proportion of applicants. Those with high scores get admission into better-ranking colleges. The remaining have to pay high capitation fees to private colleges or travel abroad for medical education. The latter is much cheaper than the Indian private colleges after accounting for tuition fees, travel and living costs.
Most students who travel to middle-income countries return to India but have to pass the foreign medical graduate exam that qualifies them to practice. Over the last few years, the pass percentage of this exam has been very low, which has resulted in rising anxieties and frustration among students who travel abroad to study medicine.”
So, as many observers believe, the Indian medical students who have returned from Ukraine face a tough situation. Many parents are paying interest on loans taken and their young lads are sitting at home with an uncertain future. The government is more eager for private initiatives for new medical colleges. A meagre increase in medical seats in a few colleges will not solve the problem. An immediate temporary plan laced with long-term reform in medical education is the need of the hour. The issue is complex and urgent.
* Neeraj Nanda is the Editor of South Asia Times (SAT) & South Asia analyst.
