Taking cognisance of the special circumstances, the National Medical Commission (NMC) has agreed to recognise the academic mobility programme offered by Ukraine to allow medical students to complete their education as the degree will be awarded by the parent Ukrainian university only.
Thus, all the Indian medical students who had returned from war-torn Ukraine will now be able to relocate to universities in other foreign countries to continue their studies further.
A public notice issued by the NMC stated, “The mobility program offered by Ukraine has been considered in the Commission in consultation with the Ministry of External Affairs, wherein it was intimated that the Academic Mobility Program is a ‘temporary relocation’ to other universities in different countries globally. However, the degree will be awarded by the parent Ukrainian university only.”
The notice further read, “The Commission hereby conveys its ‘no-objection’ for academic mobility programme in respect of Indian medical students, who are studying in Ukraine provided that other criteria of Screening Test Regulations 2002 are fulfilled.”
The COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war had put a question mark on the future of thousands of Indian medical students, who were enrolled at foreign medical institutes in China and Ukraine.
Around 18,000 medical students had returned from Ukraine following Russia’s invasion of the country in February this year.
In general, approximately 3,000-4,000 Indian students have been enrolling in Ukrainian universities for the last five years, as per data on the number of students who appeared for the Foreign Medical Graduates Examination.
Earlier this August, Indian regulatory body ‘National Medical Commission’ (NMC) had announced that it will not compromise on its said guidelines directed for medical students enrolled at foreign universities.
The NMC had stated that the medical students who fled the war in Ukraine will not be allowed to continue their education in India.
The Commission had clarified that it was not against the transfer formula proposed by Ukraine, for students who have sought admission before November 18, 2021. However, as per India’s Foreign Medical Graduate Licentiate Regulations, 2021, students should complete the medical course at the same university where they have taken the admission.
Thus, the students should either return to Ukraine to complete the course or seek admission in India after qualifying the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Examination.
This was in response to the exchange programme that was announced by Ukraine. It allows students to complete the course in other universities in Europe while remaining enrolled at the Ukrainian universities.
In a recent announcement, the authorities of medical universities in Ukraine recently said that in-person classes would resume from September 1, even when the country is reeling under Russian invasion. Students were asked to submit the fees for the new semester. The students could either fly to Ukraine for the in-person classes or could continue to attend the online classes until February next year and could then join the in-person sessions.
In May this year, the Supreme Court had upheld the validity of Regulations 4(a)(i), 4(a)(ii), 4(b) & 4(c) of the National Medical Commission (Foreign Medical Graduate Licentiate) Regulations 2021, schedule II 2 (a) and 2 (c) of the National Medical Commission (Compulsory Rotating Medical Internship) Regulations 2021.
The court stated that the NMC had the power to frame these Regulations for foreign medical graduates.
A bench comprising ‘Justices Hemant Gupta and V. Ramasubramanian’ had held the verdict stating: “It is true that the country needs more doctors, but it needs really qualified doctors and not persons trained by institutions abroad, to test their skills only in their motherland.”
Earlier in March this year, the Delhi High Court had received a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) by a Delhi-based NGO ‘Pravasi Legal Cell’ urging the government to allow and facilitate studies of the medical students, who have returned from war-torn Ukraine, in Indian colleges.
The petition cited, “Issue a direction to the Respondents (Centre and National Medical Commission) to take appropriate steps to enable and facilitate continuance of studies for Indian medical students in the medical colleges in India from the stage from which their studies in Ukraine have been disrupted on account of the war.”
A recent report released by the UN Human Rights in June this year, claimed- “The armed attack of the Russian Federation on Ukraine has led to a grave deterioration of the human rights situation in the country with thousands of civilians killed and injured, massive destruction to civilian infrastructure and housing, arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance, torture and ill-treatment, and conflict-related sexual violence.”
The report was based on findings by the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) and covered the period from February 24 until May 15, 2022.The report also provided details on the impact of hostilities on the rights of people in situations of vulnerability, including IDPs, Roma, persons with disabilities, and older persons.
