The Centre has submitted before Supreme Court that in consultation with National Medical Commission (NMC) it has taken pro-active measures to assist the students who had to return from Ukraine due to the ongoing crisis. However, the centre also stated that accommodating these students in Indian colleges will hamper the standards of Indian medical education.
“It is humbly submitted that in so far as such students are concerned, there are no such provisions either under the Indian Medical Council Act 1956 or the National Medical Commission Act, 2019 as well as the regulations to accommodate or transfer medical students from any foreign medical institutes/colleges to Indian medical colleges. Till now, no permission has been given by the NMC to trade or accommodate any foreign medical students in any Indian medical institute/university,” an affidavit by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said.
The affidavit added that the petitioners had gone to foreign countries for two reasons. Firstly, due to poor merit in the NEET Exam, secondly, affordability of medical education in such foreign countries.
“It is humbly submitted that in case these students with (a) poor merit are allowed admission in premier medical colleges in India by default, there may be several litigations from those desirous candidates who could not get seats in these colleges and have taken admission in either lesser-known colleges or have been deprived of a seat in medical colleges.
“Further, in case of affordability, if these candidates are allocated private medical colleges in India, they once again may not be able to afford the fees structure of the concerned institution,” it said.