Sarthak Umang
Published on: 23 November 2022 at 19:19 IST
The Supreme Court has decided to hear the petition asking for accommodations for the returning Ukrainian medical students and granting them permission to finish their education in Indian medical institutes on November 29.
The Central government has submitted its response to the current plea, ASG Aishwarya Bhati informed the Court when the matter was brought up today.
In response, the petitioners’ counsel, Maneka Guruswamy, informed the court that they had not received a copy of the reply.
Justices Surya Kant and Vikram Nath‘s panel resolved to take up the case on November 29, 2022, as a result.
When the issue was discussed in September, the Supreme Court suggested that the Central Government help the medical students who had returned to the country from the Ukraine due to the war with Russia by developing a website listing foreign universities where they could finish their degrees in accordance with the government’s Academic Mobility Program.
This statement was made in response to the Centre’s evidence in the case, which claimed that due to a lack of legal requirements, the petitioner students could not be admitted in medical colleges in India.
The National Medical Commission (NMC) has not yet approved the transfer or housing of any foreign medical students at any Indian medical school or university, the court was further informed.
The affidavit did note that NMC had issued a Public Notice dated September 6, 2022 (Academic Mobility Programme) indicating that NMC would accept completion of their remaining courses in other countries (with the approval of parent university/institution in Ukraine) in order to aid and assist such returnee students who could not complete their MBBS courses in Ukraine.
A stop-gap arrangement may be made in various Central/ State/ Private medical colleges in India so that the returnee students can finish their medical education without losing an academic year, according to the plea of the returning students.
Since there is no prospect of normalcy in Ukraine or in our own country in the near future, there is no emergency policy of the appropriate authorities and appropriate governments in accommodating the returning Indian medical students.
Additionally, the petition asked for instructions to be given to the Central Government to coordinate with the Ukrainian government and the appropriate Ukrainian authorities and declare some central and/or state government-run private medical colleges and some seats in those colleges to be overseas campuses of Ukrainian institutes.
The purpose of continuing studies as a temporary emergency measure until normalcy is restored in Ukraine and students may be sent back there to complete their studies.
Case Title: Parthvi Ahuja & Prapti Singh vs. Union of India & Ors.