The Bengal government is yet to get a response from the Centre to its proposal to accommodate the medical students from the state who had to leave Ukraine in colleges here, said an official.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee had on March 16 written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, requesting for the National Medical Commission’s (NMC) permission to allow such students to enrol in colleges in Bengal.
“There is no response from the Centre yet. We have sought an appointment with the chairman of the National Medical Commission but are yet to get it,” an official in the state government said on Tuesday.
“Unless the NMC gives the clearance, we cannot do anything to help these students.”
V.K. Paul, chairman of the commission, did not make any comment when contacted by The Telegraph on Tuesday evening.
Around 400 students from Bengal were pursuing medical courses in various colleges in Ukraine when the country was invaded by Russia in February.
The students have since returned home and are unsure about the future of their courses.
The state government, in an attempt to help such students, has proposed that those among them who are eligible for internships be allowed to do so at government medical colleges in Bengal.
As for those who are not, the state government wants them to be offered slots in private medical colleges in Bengal.
Some of the students who have returned from Ukraine said they were waiting for a communication from the state government on whether they could complete their courses in Bengal.
Many of the students are now attending online classes conducted by their colleges in Ukraine. Some of the colleges, however, are yet to start online classes.
“I am yet to get any communication from the state government about admission at any medical college here. I am attending online classes,” said Arka Samaddar, a first-year student at Zaporizhzhya State Medical University.
The chief minister had met the students from Ukraine earlier this month and announced that her government would provide all help to them so they could resume their studies.
“The present stipulations of the NMC mandate that only those students who qualify the National Entrance Eligibility Test (NEET-UG) can only get admission into the medical colleges. Many of the students who have returned from Ukraine do not meet this requirement. It is requested that the relevant guidelines may be relaxed as a very special case to accommodate these students,” Mamata wrote in her letter to the Prime Minister.
She also wrote that private medical colleges in Bengal had agreed to accommodate students from Ukraine. Such students, the letter says, will be charged fees paid by candidates enrolling in slots under the government quota.