NMC doesn’t have data on placing medical students from Ukraine in WB: Centre

The National Medical Commission (NMC) has no information regarding the accommodation of Indian medical students returning from war-torn Ukraine in the state-run medical colleges in West Bengal, the Union health ministry said in the Lok Sabha on Friday.

The NMC has not yet given permission to transfer or accommodate foreign medical students in Indian medical institutes/universities, according to the ministry.

“Foreign medical students/graduates are either covered under ‘Screening Test Regulations, 2002’ or ‘Foreign Medical Graduate Licentiate Regulations, 2021’, as the case may be. There are no such provisions in the Indian Medical Council Act 1956 and the National Medical Commission Act, 2019, as well as the regulations to accommodate or transfer medical students from any foreign medical institutes to Indian medical colleges,” Union minister of state for health and family welfare Bharati Pravin Pawar said in the lower house of Parliament during the ongoing monsoon session.

The ministry’s response came amid the West Bengal government’s decision to allow medical students from Ukraine to attend private and state government-run medical colleges under the ‘observership’ programme.

Around 394 medical students who returned to West Bengal from Ukraine were allowed to attend lectures and practical classes. However, they were not allowed to perform practical sessions by themselves.

In a recent response to an RTI filed by health activist Dr Babu KV, the regulatory body – NMC – said it has not allowed states to decide on accommodating Ukraine-returned medical students in medical colleges in India.

“The observership was illegal and could set a precedent in other states. The NMC is playing down the decision of the West Bengal government on observership,” Babu said.

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi recently wrote to Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya, requesting the accommodation of Indian medical students from Ukraine in local medical colleges or facilitating their transfer to medical colleges in other foreign countries.

“Lack of clarity has threatened their professional future. It would be a travesty of justice if first and second-year students are required to take NEET examinations and restart their MBBS studies, as many news reports have indicated,” Gandhi said in the letter.

He also highlighted the Supreme Court judgement to allow students with pending clinical training to continue with their practice in NMC-recognised medical colleges in India.