Students requested Centre to provide a medical subject equivalency orientation programme
New Delhi: On Sunday, the students who returned from war-torn Ukraine and their parents gathered at Jantar Mantar here and sought the government's intervention to ensure they are accommodated in Indian colleges.
The students held placards written, "Help all Indian MBBS students of Ukraine" and "Save the career of Indian students".
Thousands of students from India studying in various medical colleges in Ukraine had to abandon their courses and return home after Russian forces launched a war against the country.
Last month, a PIL was filed in the Supreme Court seeking directions on the issue of admission and continuation of studies in the country of Indian medical students who were evacuated from Ukraine.
The plea also sought directions to the Centre to provide a medical subject equivalency orientation programme for considering them in the Indian curriculum.
The Indian Medical Association has also recommended to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that such students should be accommodated in Indian medical colleges as a one-time measure.
In a letter to PM Modi on March 4, the IMA had said that such students should be permitted to go to Indian medical colleges for the remainder of their MBBS courses through an "appropriate disbursed distribution", but it should not be seen as an increase in the annual intake capacity.
"We have come here to show how many students are affected and are requesting the same. We want to collectively raise a voice as it is about the future of our children."
Earlier in March, the External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar in a written statement kept on the table of Rajya Sabha said that the government has been able to safely bring home 22,500 Indian citizens and 147 foreign nationals belonging to 18 countries from Ukraine since February 2022 in the wake of Russia-Ukraine war.
RB Gupta, President of the Parents Association of Ukraine Medical Students said, "My child is a second-year student who is studying in Ivano. We are in favour of the government. We are just requesting the government that the way they have saved the lives of our children under Operation Ganga, they will secure our children's future in the same way."
"Currently, people from 10 states have joined here at Jantar Mantar including Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttrakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi, Bihar, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Odisha," added RB Gupta.
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