Russia Ukraine war medical students

The spoils of the Russia-Ukraine war have reached even the Gujarat students who studied medicine across now war-torn Ukrainian cities.The spoils of the Russia-Ukraine war have reached even the Gujarat students who studied medicine across now war-torn Ukrainian cities.

The National Medical Council (NMC) issued guidelines regarding online and offline studies for these students studying abroad in the wake of the war.

Around 200 students from Gujarat who completed their medical studies in Ukraine allege that the Gujarat Medical Council (GMC) is misinterpreting the NMC guidelines regarding the internship period.

The students have also written a letter to the GMC in this regard. One of the students said, “When the war between Ukraine and Russia waged in 2022, many students like me were in the fifth year of medical studies in Ukraine. We had to return to India due to the war.”

Medical students in peril over GMC’s mandate

The NMC clarified that medical students abroad who completed their fifth and sixth years of study online due to COVID-19 or the war will have to further pursue three years of internship after returning to India, while those who have completed their sixth and final year offline will have to pursue one year of internship.

Over this, the students remarked, “To avoid doing three years of internship, we went back to Ukraine to complete our sixth year, despite the war at its peak. There, we completed the previous year’s online studies in offline mode. After completing our studies, we returned to India in July 2023 or later.”

“After studying abroad, we are now supposed to sit for another exam for internships in India. We have also passed this exam, but now GMC is allocating us internships for different medical colleges,” voiced the students.

Another student said, “We have fulfilled all the conditions of the NMC and are supposed to do only a year of internship. Instead, GMC demands three years of internships, as we did our fifth year in online mode. Other states have provided one-year internships to such students who have completed their last year offline, based on the NMC. We appeal to the office bearers of GMC to raise this issue with the NMC and clarify it at the earliest.”

Students’ plight in war-torn Ukraine

A student who completed his sixth year of studies at Bukovinian State Medical University in Chernivtsi, Ukraine, said, “After much persuasion, I decided to go back to Ukraine for offline studies despite the war. Since it was not possible to get a visa for Ukraine, I took a transit visa from the neighbouring country, Moldova. From there, other students like me reached Chernivtsi in October 2022. Because of the war, there were only three hours of electricity in the day, so we had to study with flashlights on our mobiles or light candles.”

“We had to struggle, even for hot water, to take a bath in the bitingly cold weather. Sometimes there would be no water for a week. As the sirens of a drone or missile attack by Russia echoed, we had to leave whatever we were doing and rush to the basement or bunker, where we would have to sit for hours. Even at the university, the teachers used to teach us in the basement. We had to face the visa problem again while returning to India. The university eventually intervened, and Romania gave us a transit visa. From there, we caught a flight and returned to India. However, we were mentally preparing ourselves to face those circumstances, as we wouldn’t have to do an internship here for three years. But such a situation back home was totally unanticipated,” the student said.

Another student said in a conversation, “I came back to India and went back to Odessa National Medical University in Odessa, Ukraine, to complete the last year of medical studies. The city of Odessa is more affected due to the war. During the time I was there, missile and drone attacks were persistent. Whenever the Ukrainian security forces retaliated to shoot down Russian artillery, the glass windows of our house would tremble incessantly. In the biting cold of -10°C to -15°C, there were only three hours of electricity supply in a day. Most of the mobile towers in Odessa were damaged in the attacks, so there were also problems with the mobile network.” 

“If we had to download videos or material for studies or talk to our loved ones, we had to go out in the biting cold to a place where the network was available. There was an electric stove for cooking. If there was no electricity, there was no food, and we had to go hungry for indefinite periods. I used to keep three to four power banks. I used to charge the power banks whenever electricity was available. I took all this risk to study offline,” they said.

A student from Vadodara mentioned their plight: “Even after completing offline studies, we are told by GMC in Ahmedabad that if we choose not to opt for three years of internship and only opt for a year, our permanent registration will be terminated. Other states have found a solution to this confusion. We are currently in a situation where we have to go to another state if we have to do a year-long internship.”

“GMC is with the students”

Addressing this situation, GMC vice president Chetan Patel said, “The NMC’s guidelines of Dec 7, 2023, are very clear, and according to them, students who have graduated from abroad need to have studied offline for the entire year to do a year-long internship. These students also studied online for some time in the final year. Medical graduates who have studied online abroad are mandated to do a clerkship for a year and an internship for another year in India. However, we have asked the students to approach the NMC. GMC is with these students. If NMC instructs us, the students will have to do only a year’s internship.”

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