Indian Ambassador to Ukraine Partha Satpathy flags off a special train with 600 Indian students from Sumy University, who boarded evacuation flights to India on March 10. PTI
The Maharashtra government is trying its best to help out Indian medical students returning from war-hit Ukraine, offering online learning options and even a chance to appear for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET).
Maharashtra medical education minister Amit Deshmukh held a meeting in Mumbai on March 9 to discuss how these students, left in the lurch due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, can be assisted, officials said.
The meeting was attended by higher and technical education minister Uday Samant, Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS) vice-chancellor Lt Gen (Retd) Madhuri Kanitkar and Shiv Sena member of legislative council Manisha Kayande.
Soon after the meeting, Kayande said, “MUHS has expressed willingness to conduct medical courses for Ukraine-returned students as they have discontinued their education due to Russia’s invasion. These would be online courses.”
She added, “It would cover some parts of the course which the students would have missed. We are also offering some other alternatives to the students and all possibilities are being assessed.”
Those who had taken admission to medical colleges in Ukraine in November 2021 or later may also be allowed to appear for the NEET entrance exam for medical courses in India, said an official who was present at the meeting. “The proposal is at a nascent stage and we all are working on it,” the official added.
Of the 18,000 Indian students who were studying in Ukraine, around 2,000 belonged to Maharashtra, the official said.