The Supreme Court has issued notice to Centre and National Medical Commission (NMC) on a batch of petitions which was filed by students who came back from war-torn Ukraine and who are seeking permission to continue their medical education in India, as stated in a tweet by LiveLaw.in.
The next hearing has been scheduled for September 15, LiveLaw.in.
During the hearing, the petitioners referred to a recommendation which was submitted to the Lok Sabha by the standing committee of External Affairs, which mentioned that students should be accommodated in the Indian colleges in view of their situation.
"These students have been left in a quandary as they could not re-join their courses physically or complete their internship or training in India. The Committee have been informed that MEA (Ministry of External Affairs) had recommended to the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare to consider allowing Indian private medical institutions to enroll returnee students from Ukraine in their institutions on a one-time exemption basis. The Committee urges the Ministry to pursue the matter with the MoHFW vigorously as this step alone may solve the current crisis being faced by the students enrolled in Ukrainian universities and enable them to complete their courses," the report by the standing committee states.
The Ukraine-returned students have been suffering for a very long time because of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, which forced them to return to India and has prevented them from going back. As a result of this, they were unable to pursue their medical education and training. And they have been demanding to be accommodated in Indian medical colleges since.
The Supreme Court had earlier this year asked the National Medical Commission (NMC) to chalk out some measures to help these students to complete their courses and training. But the NMC failed to do so. However, it stated that accommodating them in Indian colleges was not possible.
The students resorted to protesting against this. A hunger strike was staged by many students at Jantar Mantar last month. And then on August 3, a recommendation was submitted to the Lok Sabha by the standing committee of External Affairs, which mentioned that students should be accommodated in the Indian colleges in view of their situation.