Supreme Court adjourns Ukraine-returned medical students' petitions; decision to be taken by expert committee

The Supreme Court on Wednesday, January 25, adjourned a batch of petitions pertaining to the issues being faced by Indian medical students who returned from Ukraine. The court has left the decision up to the expert committee that has been constituted by the Centre, as per a report by LiveLaw.

Last month, the court asked the Government to constitute a committee of experts to come up with solutions for the students' situations. The bench yesterday, asked if the advocate representing the petitioners was requesting to fully waive practical examinations. To this, the bench said, "We can't go on compromising with medical education", and made it clear that it was not inclined to take any decision by itself. "We have constituted a committee. We will go by whatever it says," it said, as per the LiveLaw report.

The court also pointed out that it was only doing this exercise on humanitarian grounds, as otherwise, the petitioners did not have a case. In the last hearing on December 9, the court had requested the Centre to consider the students' situation and come up with a solution, citing it was a "human problem".

Another advocate for the petitioners pointed out that the Foreign Medical Graduates Examination (FMGE) was conducted on January 20. As more students would be inducted, she, therefore, sought a shorter date. But as per the Court’s directions, the solution would only be for penultimate year students and that too, for those who fall within the timeline prescribed by the National Medical Commission (NMC), Additional Solicitor General said, as per the LiveLaw report.

So far, around 1,100 Indian students are currently in Ukraine though most of those pursuing medical education in that country have returned, the government told the Lok Sabha on December 9. Replying to a question, Minister of State for External Affairs Meenakshi Lekhi said the Indian embassy in Kyiv had issued an advisory on October 25 asking all Indian citizens to immediately leave Ukraine by available means, as stated in a report by PTI.