Supreme Court to appear into Ukraine medicos’ admission plea

The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to look at a plea of medical students, who were forced to return from Ukraine because of the war with Russia, seeking admission in colleges in India to enable them to finish the course.

Though a bench of Justices Hemant Gupta and Vikram Nath was reluctant in entertaining the petition, saying there's merit-based admission in medical colleges and students must crack the doorway exam, it issued a notice to the Centre after the scholars pleaded the court to a minimum of get a response from the govt on the problem. 

Senior advocate R Basant, appearing for petitioners, contended that about 20,000 students pursuing medical courses in Russia, Ukraine and China were forced to return back thanks to the pandemic and therefore the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. He said the scholars spent money and time and will be allowed to continue their studies in Indian medical colleges to finish the course.

Basant said it absolutely was unattainable within the present situation to return to Ukraine to pursue the course which the cash and time spent by the scholars mustn't go waste.

Pleading for a sympathetic approach, the scholars told the bench that the apex court had in April granted relief to medical students who were compelled to come back back to India without undergoing practicals and had asked the National Medical Commission to permit them to undertake clinical training in medical colleges in India, and thereafter recognised their degrees rather than invalidating the identical. 

Granting relief to students, the apex court had said, “...such national resources can not be permitted to be wasted… (it) will affect the lifetime of young students who have taken admission in foreign institutes as a part of their career prospects. Therefore, the services of the scholars should be accustomed augment the health infrastructure within the country. Thus, it'd be necessary that the scholars undergo actual clinical training of such duration and at such institutes which are identified by the appellant and on such terms and conditions, including the fees for imparting such training, as is also notified by the appellant.”