The National Medical Commission (NMC) plans temporary measures to help Indian medical students whose studies have been interrupted by the China and Ukraine crisis, respectively.
The National Medical Commission is considering allowing final-year Indian medical students affected by Ukraine and China to complete their education at their respective universities.
The concession is a one-time measure to serve as relief, being planned to help students forced to cut short their studies due to the war in Ukraine and the pandemic in China to complete their degrees.
Authorities Press for Relief for Students
Ahead of June 29, the deadline set by the Supreme Court for the government to finalize a plan of action for Ukraine and China returnees, the National Medical Commission (NMC) has reportedly proposed relief for final-year students and relaxations for others to complete their education in any foreign country.
The NMC is actively considering allowing final-year medical students who have returned from Ukraine and China to complete their medical education from their original universities online and then go on to take the Foreign Medical Graduate Exam (FMGE) here in India.
The concession is being planned to help Indian students who were forced to cut their terms short due to the war in Ukraine and the pandemic in China. It is meant to be a one-time measure. The NMC’s Undergraduate Medical Board (UGMEB) said in a proposal to the Health Ministry that the students who clear the FMGE will be allowed to do a medical internship for 2 years instead of 1 in accordance with Compulsory Rotating Medical Internship (CRMI) regulations.
Issues on the Path to Providing Relief
The NMC cited the Health Ministry’s lack of adequate infrastructure apart from the vast variation between the Indian and Ukraine curriculums following the demand to accommodate 25,000 medical students in Indian colleges. The NMC decidedly proposed first that final-year MBBS students who have returned from Ukraine and China due to war exigencies or COVID-19 and have been unable to complete their final year be allowed to complete their course online and take the Foreign Medical Graduate Exam in India for a license to practice. According to the proposal, the doubling of the internship period was planned to address the deficit in clinical and practical skills training.
The recommendations, though ambitious for final-year students, may not hold many provisions for first- and second-year students. The UGMEB suggested that medical students appear for the NEET (National Eligibility Entrance Test) exam for admission to a college in India as per their merit. Explaining the proposal, sources said that students across the years may be allowed to go to a foreign country to finish their course if they don’t find any benefit in the UGMEB plan.
The source said that Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries such as Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Romania have already shown their inclination to allow the continuation of studies for students affected by the global crisis in their countries. The NMC regulations issued last year mandated that undergraduate courses must be attained from a single institution/university in order to appear for FMGE.Â
In the past year, about 40,000 students studying medicine in Ukraine and China have returned home owing to the crisis in their respective countries, affecting their MBBS degree, which goes on for five-and-a-half years and comprises of nine semesters over four-and-a-half years, followed by a year of internship. The UGMEB has stated it is not easy to accommodate or transfer these medical students from different institutes in Ukraine and China to Indian medical colleges in order to complete their qualifications for several reasons, also citing the non-availability of sufficient infrastructural facilities and faculties in Indian medical colleges/institutes to train the additional number of medical students from outside.Â
Meanwhile, the NMC is of the view that the course curriculum for foreign medical qualifications is not in sync with what is prescribed under the Indian medical education system and is also not at par with its standard.
Discussions between the NMC and the Health Ministry began after April 29, which is when the Supreme Court directed the regulatory body to frame a scheme in two months to enable MBBS students affected by the Ukraine war and the COVID-19 pandemic to complete their clinical training in medical colleges in India if not in the respective countries. Currently, there are no concrete NMC regulations to accommodate Indian students pursuing medical courses abroad who have to return home midway through their academic sessions.
