Accommodate students returned from Ukraine in Indian medical colleges: Stalin to PM

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, on Friday, wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to request the Union Government to reconsider its stand that Indian students who returned from Ukraine cannot be accommodated in medical colleges in the country. The Tamil Nadu chief minister asked Modi to find ways to admit them in private colleges by creating additional seats as a “one-time measure.”

Stalin, in his letter, referred to the Union government’s stand in the Supreme Court that students who returned from Ukraine cannot be accommodated in India as there is no provision in the National Medical Commission Act allowing it and “such relaxation will hamper the standards of medical education in India.”

Thousands of students from Tamil Nadu, who were pursuing medicine in Ukraine, returned to India following the Russian invasion in February.

“The Lok Sabha committee on External Affairs had recommended that the returned students can be accommodated in the medical colleges in India and the students were very hopeful. But the contrary stand taken by the Union government has dashed the hopes of these students. This needs to be reconsidered,” Stalin said.

If accommodating such returned students in government medical colleges is deemed difficult, Stalin said, they can be accommodated in private colleges by creating additional seats as a one-time measure.

“Since these students sought education in Ukraine due to their inability to pay the higher fees in private medical colleges in India, a special dispensation may be considered in the form of a comparable fee structure in private medical colleges in India, similar to the fees paid by the students abroad. This will allow the affected students to continue their education paying the same level of fees,” the Chief Minister said.

He also asked the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to actively identify colleges and universities abroad suitable for these medical students under the academic mobility program.

“This process of identifying appropriate colleges and accommodating our students needs to be centrally coordinated rather than leaving it to individual students to scout for colleges in various countries. An appropriate framework may kindly be put in place for this process,” Stalin added.