A medical student from Nadia who reached home on Sunday from war-torn Ukraine appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for “special arrangements” regarding his admission to an Indian private or government college from where he can complete his studies.
Arko Samaddar of Santipur was a first-year medical student at Zaporizhzhia State Medical University in the small Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia when his studies were interrupted by the ongoing war.
He submitted his appeal on Sunday through the PMO’s Public Grievance portal, “within five hours” of his homecoming, echoing the larger concerns of an estimated 18,000 Indian medical students in Ukraine.
“I don't know what the future holds for students like me. The picture is not clear, I have no idea if we will ever be able to return to Ukraine to resume studies,” said Arko.
“This uncertainty kept me anxious throughout my journey back home. I realised that unless our central government extended support, completing my medical course will be literally impossible. I wrote a letter to the PMO petitioning for admission to a medical college in the country, or to make a similar arrangement in any other country which has the required infrastructure,” the youngster added.
“There is a ray of hope. I saw a video on social media in which Union minister V.K. Singh had announced in Poland that students (of Ukrainian colleges) would be accommodated into medical colleges in India,” Arko added on an optimistic note.
The Indian Medical Association last week requested the Prime Minister to accommodate returning medical students into Indian campuses by increasing at least 2-5 per cent seats in all government and private medical colleges as a “one-time measure”.
In his appeal to Modi, Arko wrote: “There is no sign of the end of the ongoing war, and nobody knows when restoration work will begin in Ukraine. But, it is certain that students like me would incur a huge loss of the academic year(s) unless the war ends.”
“Sir, in such a situation, I would like to humbly request you to make special alternative arrangements for students like me studying in Ukraine so that we can at least complete our medical courses, preferably studying in India. Sir, please help us to get admitted to any private or government-run medical colleges in the country so that we can continue to pursue our dream, or at least make an alternative arrangement negotiating with any other countries who can admit us and help to complete our medical courses.”
Fellow medical students Nisha Biswas, from Habra, and Ripon Sardar, from Swarupnagar in North 24 Parganas, also returned home on Sunday morning and are mulling a similar request to the Prime Minister.
“It is true that accommodating 18,000 students is a difficult task.... But the Centre should consider it since the situation (in Ukraine) is not likely to get normal this year,” Nisha said.
Arko’s father Kamal Samaddar, a postal department employee, concurred: “Only the Centre can offer a solution. We are hopeful that along with the Centre, the state government also takes up the matter with the Medical Council of India.”
Ripon's father Anarul Sardar, a farmer by profession, who last year sold agricultural land worth Rs 10 lakh to pay the Rs 35 lakh college fees, said: “I am not in a position to send my son back to Ukraine. Unless the Centre steps in with help, my son’s studies so far will go down the drain.”