New Delhi: Thousands of Indian students go abroad to pursue medical education: China, Ukraine, Philippines and Russia are some of the most favoured destinations.
War-torn Ukraine ranks fourth in Europe for hosting largest number of graduate and postgraduate medical students. There are currently 14 major medical colleges in Ukraine in which more than 18,000 Indian students are pursuing MBBS and BDS courses, according to Ukraine’s Ministry of Education and Science. In 2020, 24 per cent of its overseas students were from India.
The paucity of medical seats in India’s government colleges and high fees in private medical colleges are the main reasons behind the students opting to study abroad. But, some say that there is a 'fake business model' running parallel where agencies are working with foreign universities in different countries charging Rs50,000 to Rs100,000 per candidate.
Omkar Jilla from Maharashtra, a third year medical student in Ivano-Frankivsk National Medical University, said that students prefer to come here because it's affordable. “While Rs10 lakh to Rs15 lakh [Rs1 million to Rs1.5 million] per annum are spent in private medical colleges in India, here it costs Rs3 lakh to Rs4 lakh only. However, I agree the standard is not that good compared to India, but still we get our MBBS degree after 6 years,” he said.
Self-study
“In India, we have to study for several years to preparae for NEET. In Ukraine, there are three options and without any entrance exam — national universities, state universities and private universities. The fee structure is more or less the same at all these universities”, he added.
“We have to study 80 per cent by ourselves from video lectures and books, which is similar to India. Even in practicals, not many options are available as India has,” he says. “Most importantly, we get the MBBS degree here,” he told IANS. Omkar is stranded at the Bucharest airport at the moment.
On the contrary, the Federation of All India Medical Association President Dr Rohan Krishnan says the main reasons for migration is not just the high fees of private medical colleges in India but there is a business going on in the country where many of the agencies are working with colleges in Ukraine, Russia, China and Philippines.
World of myths and fables
“They are getting a good cut of around Rs50,000 to Rs1 lakh per candidate. So mainly they try to hack the mindset of young people. They show a delightful world of myths and fables to these teenagers and tell them that education quality is good there and they will pass Foreign Medical Graduate Examination in one go which is conducted by the Indian Government National Medical Commission (NMC).
Dr Krishnan claims that this is just a day dream for most of the teenagers as the passing rate of Foreign Medical Graduates Examination (FMGE) in India is only 5 per cent and there is literally no teaching for this exam in Russia, Ukraine and other countries.
“However, the education is cheaper outside India but training is not as good as compared to India. Most of them have zero clinical experience and many Ukrainian patients don’t allow Indians to examine them. The training is so bad that a majority can’t even clear FMGE exams. The agents are the happiest in the process as they make money,” said Dr Kabir Sardana, Director Professor and Head Dermatology Department, RML hospital.
In order to get a medical degree in India, one has only three options — one has to pass the NEET with good marks to get enrolled in a government medical college or take admission in a private medical college. The last option is to go abroad where the fee is low , says Dr Ashutosh Shukla, Senior Director Internal Medicine, Max Hospital. He says this is what attracts Indian students, but they also need to pass FMGE to practice in India.
