The State Government will take all possible measures to urge the Centre and the National Medical Commission (NMC) to help the students, who were forced to discontinue their studies in medical and other courses in Ukraine and return home, Chief Minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, said in the Assembly on Monday.
The Centre’s special intervention will be required to ensure the continued education of students who were in various stages of their courses, when they were forced to return home. In the case of students who were pursuing medicine in Ukraine, any decision on continued education here can be taken only by the NMC, he said.
Mr. Vijayan was replying to a calling attention motion brought forth by C.K. Hareendran, MLA, demanding the Centre’s intervention in ending the uncertainty over the education of Indian students who had to discontinue their studies following the outbreak of war.
The State Government will set up a special cell under NORKA, jointly with the Health Department, to coordinate measures needed for students to recover lost certificates or valuable documents and to continue their studies. An amount of ₹10 crore has been set aside in the State Budget 2022-23 for the purpose
NMC has already issued directives on how medical students who are forced to discontinue their studies abroad due to COVID pandemic or other compelling situations like war, may complete internship here.
Accordingly, State Medical Councils have been asked to issue provisional registrations to those students who were unable to complete compulsory internship in their places of study, so that they may do their one year internship in recognised medical colleges or hospitals attached to these institutions. NMC has also directed that during the internship, these students be allowed stipend and other facilities on par with the stipend/facilities extended to students in Government Medical Colleges in the country.
In the case of medical students in various stages of studies also, NMC’s decision will have to be awaited.
As far as the repayment of bank loans for medical education is concerned, the repayment begins only an year after the completion of the house surgeon’s training or when the students are employed.
The State Government, meanwhile, took the fastest possible measures to ensure the safe return of Malayali students to their hometowns . Apart from continuously reaching out to the Prime Minister and External Affairs Minister, 24-hour NORKA Development office units were set up in Delhi and Mumbai to receive the students and all facilities were provided to the students in Kerala House.
The State Government also bore all expenses for bringing these students back to Kerala in chartered flights and to reach them from the airports to their homes. A special team of NORKA continues to function for providing all help to the Ukraine-returnees, Mr. Vijayan, added.
