Health Ministry, NMC exploring ways to help Ukraine-return medical students complete studies

New Delhi: The Union Health Ministry and the National Medical Commission are exploring the possibility of relaxing provisions of the NMC (Foreign Medical Graduate Licentiate) Regulations, 2021 or finding alternatives to enable Ukraine-return medical students complete their courses in private colleges in India or abroad.

Officials from NMC, Health Ministry, MEA and NITI Aayog will soon hold important meeting and the issue will be reviewed on humanitarian grounds and looked at sympathetically, sources said.

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According to the provisions of the National Medical Commission (Foreign Medical Graduate Licentiate) Regulations, 2021 the entire course, training and internship or clerkship shall be done outside India in the same foreign medical institution throughout the course of study.

The provisions also state that no part of medical training and internship shall be done in India or in any country other than the one from where the primary medical qualification is obtained.

An official source said presently there are no norms and regulations under the National Medical Commission Regulations to accommodate medical students, who were studying abroad and had to return to India midway, in Indian medical colleges in between an academic session.

"However, keeping in view such extraordinary situations, the issue will be reviewed on humanitarian grounds and looked at sympathetically," the source said.

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"Discussions in the Health Ministry and the NMC have to begun to explore the possibility of relaxation in the provisions of the NMC (Foreign Medical Graduate Licentiate) Regulations, 2021 or find alternatives to allow such students complete their courses in private medical colleges or enable their transfer to colleges abroad," official source said.

Finding out a way requires brainstorming and exhaustive deliberations, according to the source. Ukraine has a six-year MBBS course and two year internship programme and it is much affordable in comparison to that in private medical colleges in India. With thousands of students fleeing the war-torn country, their future is in jeopardy.