As conflict intensifies in Ukraine, evacuated Indian students worry about their future

Twenty-year-old Gyanisha Patel, a third-year medical student at Ternopil University who returned from Ukraine on March 3 via Poland after remaining stranded at the Shehyni-Medyka border for three days, has a pragmatic view about the consequences of the ongoing conflict. Gyanisha’s mother Jagruti feels that even if Ukraine prevails, it will be tough for the nation to get back on its feet. “We have made peace with the fact that the fees we paid for this academic year have been lost… They had only just begun the second term of the third-year MBBS course when the conflict broke out. Looking at the visuals of the war, it seems like a distant possibility that Ukraine will be the same again. Even if Ukraine prevails in the conflict, rebuilding all that has been lost will be too long a process. If Russia captures Ukraine, they might have the power to rebuild, but it may not work for students… We are in a state of dilemma,” Jagruti told The Indian Express.

Jagruti adds that although the focus has been on restoring the health of her daughter who stayed in sub-zero temperatures at the border for three days without meals and water, there is also anxiety about the future. “We can only hope and appeal to the government of India to intervene and take steps to safeguard the future of these students… Most parents chose Ukraine for medical education due to the exorbitant fee structure in private colleges in India and also because universities in Ukraine are extremely professional about academics. If the government of India can address the issue of medical education in colleges in the country, we will be most happy to enroll our children in colleges here. Otherwise, we will have to look for another country as an option,” she said.

Even as the National Medical Commission (NMC), the regulatory body in India for medical education and professionals, Saturday, announced that MBBS graduates from Ukraine, who clear the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE) would be allowed to complete their internships in India, parents of final-year undergraduates from Ukraine are worried. A parent of a sixth-year student from Bukovinian State Medical University (BMSU) in Chernivtsi said, “My daughter was just about four months away from graduating as an MBBS and this has happened… We are extremely anxious as she might have to possibly also repeat the year even if she chooses to complete her MBBS from another country… We have already spent close to Rs 25 lakhs on the course and her stay in Ukraine for the last six years. It would be unfair if the students have to pay a price for this.”

The students cite ‘expensive’ medical colleges in India as the major reason behind medical aspirants choosing Ukraine as their degree destination. Paresh Patel, whose daughter is a fifth-year MBBS student from BSMU Chernivtsi, says, “Many students who head to Ukraine are those whose families cannot afford to pay a fee of up to Rs 1 crore demanded by medical colleges in India just because they were not able to get into government-aided colleges on the basis of entrance scores… The entire six-year course fee in Ukraine is about Rs 20 lakh. The quality of education cannot be questioned in Ukraine… If they resume the university, whenever they do, I will definitely send my daughter back to complete her course. Right now, they are not in a position to conduct online classes either.”

Nisarg Patel, 21, from Sihori village in Banaskantha district said, “Studies here are too costly with limited seats. I chose Ukraine because I wanted to become a doctor and it made sense to get a degree with one-fourth of the cost. Ukraine is a good country with peaceful citizens, zero crime and that is the reason so many girls, too, have enrolled there for studies.”

Concerned about his future prospects, Nisarg says, “If the war is over, only then can I think of going back to complete my studies. But what if the university is bombed and not there? We will be on the roads. The Indian government should think of something for us. Why do we expect Ukraine to think about us if our own country is not?”

Nisarg has already paid his three-year college fee, which comes up to Rs 6 lakh annually. He is the first from his family to enroll in a medical college in Ukraine but he learnt about the options from his friends who had enrolled last year. His father Chirag, who runs a clinic in Sihori, is happy that Nisarg is back safe but at the same time concerned about his degree. “Even if Ukraine takes a year to stand on its feet again, Nisarg will continue his studies from there. At the moment, the college has announced vacation till March 12 after which we have been assured that the university will start online classes,” Chirag said.

Nisarg, a third-year student in Ternopil who returned to Gujarat on March 2, has hailed the recent announcement of allowing students to complete their internship here though he said that this will only address a few students.

“If you are in the government merit list, then it is fine, but if you have to take in a self-financed college then you have to spend anywhere between Rs 80 lakh to Rs 1.25 crore. This is not affordable for everyone who wants to become a doctor. While, including the fee of Rs 20 lakh-25 lakh, the medical degree is done in Rs 40 lakh-45 lakh. It is not that the quality is being compromised as the quality of education is also good with strict regulations, attendance, regular tests and all,” says his father.

Lukman Ahmed Dadu, a final-year medical student at Kharkiv and a resident of Modasa, says due to lack of medical colleges in the country, the donations asked by private colleges are exorbitant.