Ukraine-returned medical students from Punjab to protest in Capital on April 17

PATIALA: Medical students who were forced to return to Punjab from the war-ravaged Ukraine and their parents will be joining a pan-India protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on April 17, to urge the central government for making arrangements to help them complete their studies in state universities.

A group of parents, in a release issued here on Thursday, stated that the future of their wards is at stake as they had to leave their studies due to unavoidable circumstances.

“We urge the Centre to take further decision on the academic future of our children,” said Harish Kumar, father of Arjun Batish, a fourth-year MBBS student at Kharkiv National Medical University who was evacuated from Ukraine last month.

The Patiala resident said that four states — West Bengal, Maharashtra, Odisha and Telangana — have already agreed to adjust Ukraine-returned medical students in their private and public colleges.

The National Medical Commission, in a notification issued on March 4, had said that foreign medical graduates whose internships were pending due to compelling situations, like war, are eligible to complete the remaining part of their internship in India, but there are no directions for those in the initial years of their courses.

Jaspal Singh, another parent, said that with tensions between Russia and Ukraine still escalating, the chances of their children to go back to complete the pending degrees were “very bleak”. “It is a very difficult situation for us. It is important for the government to make immediate arrangements so that our children can complete their studies,” he said.

Jagpal Singh, father of Sawandeep Kaur, a fifth-year student in Kharkiv University, said it was important to deal with this situation sensitively as students, who have been evacuated, have already gone through a lot of trauma. “The state and central governments should work in coordination for future of the students,” he said.

WANT CENTRAL GOVT TO MAKE ARRANGEMENTS TO HELP THEM COMPLETE STUDIES IN STATE UNIVERSITIES