Indian students going abroad for Medical Studies

08 Mar Indian students going abroad for Medical Studies

Posted at 08 Mar 2022 in Current Affairs by Vivek Raj 0 Comments

0 Likes

(GS Paper-II, Polity,Constitution,Governance,Social Justice and International Relations)

Source: The Hindu

Thousands of Indian students cried for help in Ukraine when the Russia-Ukraine war started, most of these students went for Medical Studies.

Approximately 18500 students were in Ukraine, as per an estimate from Ukraine.
Almost all of the students have been evacuated by now but now the uncertain future is bothering them.
Russia, China, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Philippines have been the Preferred destination for Indian students to pursue medical education.
There are various reasons for these destination like:

English is the medium of instruction in these Countries which is a comfortable language for Indian students.
The fee is very affordable in comparison to the fee for MBBS seats in Indian private medical colleges.
Certainly foreign degrees are used to provide greater exposure to the students and this way they become capable enough to deal with any type of situation and the cases.
Lack of opportunities to pursue MBBS in India due to limited number of seats.

As per a National Testing Agency press release, 16.1 lakh students registered for the exam, 15.4 lakh students appeared for the test, and 8.7 lakh students qualified.
The National Medical Commission (NMC), in 2021-22, provided that there were 596 medical colleges in the country with a total of 88,120 MBBS seats.
Further colleges are not distributed evenly across the country but concentrated in some particular region and at other places there exists scarcity of colleges.
There are approximately 65000 seats which can be afforded by the common people.
The fees for private medical colleges are approximately 1 crore for a five year course.
For a management seat, capitation fees can inflate the cost by several lakhs again.
In the case of Ukraine, on an average close to Rs. 30 – 40 lakh, including lodging and boarding is needed.
Most of the students had written the NEET exam at least twice, and only decided to move after they could not get an MBBS seat.
When they are coming back there is a requirement to clear the Foreign Medical Graduates Examination, a licensure examination held for students who have studied medicine abroad.
The differences in the income of doctors, and others, like nurses and allied health professionals, are also a key factor in making an MBBS degree attractive.

Way Forward

Creation of more medical colleges in the country and ensuring accessibility and availability.
When the aim will be to make medical education more accessible then the path ahead is not in the private sector but in the public sector, with the central and state governments’ involvement.
The State and Central governments can start more medical colleges, as recommended by NITI Aayog, by utilising district headquarters hospitals, and expanding the infrastructure to benefit students from the lower and middle socio-economic rung.
To strengthen facilities for quality medical education in the country, the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana was launched, so it needs to be implemented well.
The Creation of more medical colleges will be beneficial for the country, if access and availability can be ensured.