On Thursday, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare told the Supreme Court that war-torn Ukraine returnees with “poor merit” are not eligible to continue their education in India.

Filing its reply in a batch of appeals preferred by students aiming to continue their medical education in India, the Centre stated that they would have to utilize the academic mobility programme offered by Ukrainian universities that had already been no objection by National Medical Commission (NMC) and Centre.

The Supreme Court was also told that the scheme related to the “Academic Mobility Programme” would do justice to most of the disgruntled students and also shield the career of nearly 20,000 Indian students who had to be vacated from the war-torn country.

In the affidavit, the Centre highlighted the causes of why students move to foreign countries to pursue medical education. The Centre said that if students with poor merits are allowed admission to premier medical colleges in India by default, there may be disputes and litigations from desirous candidates who could not earn seats in these colleges.

The affidavit also stated that- further, in case of affordability, if these candidates are assigned private medical colleges in India, they once again may not be able to afford the fee structure of concerned institutions.

The affidavit added that in so far as such students are concerned, there are no such conditions either under the Indian Medical Council Act 1956 or the National Medical Commission Act, 2019, as well as the Limitations to accommodate or transfer medical students from any international medical institutes/ colleges to Indian medical colleges.

No permission has been given by the National Medical Commission (NMC) to transfer or accommodate any foreign medical students in any Indian medical institute/university till now.

News Source: The Indian Express