Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, on March 14, informed the State Assembly that the State Government will get in touch with the Centre and the National Medical Commission (NMC) to see how best the medical students in the state, who have returned from war-torn Ukraine, can be helped. "I assure the Assembly, the State Government will do everything possible to see how best our students, who were studying medicine in Ukraine, can be helped. A decision on what can be done has to be taken by the Centre and the NMC and, for that, we will do what can be done," said Vijayan.
He went on to add that NMC's decision is awaited as they are the competent authority in the matter. "There are guidelines by the NMC in extreme cases of war and pandemic periods on what needs to be done, especially for those who are doing their Residency and what's the way forward for such students," added Vijayan.
He also pointed out that one of the consequences of the war in Ukraine for all those who were studying there is the loss of documents and various certificates. "To coordinate all this, a special cell will be set up which will consist of officials from the Health Department and the Non-resident Keralites Affairs Department (NORKA) and an allocation of Rs 10 crore has been set aside in the recently presented budget," added Vijayan. According to Vijayan, around 3,000 Kerala students were pursuing Medicine at various universities in Ukraine.
