SETU – Bridge Program by the Government of India recommended for the stranded medical students from Ukraine

March 08, 2022, Bengaluru: A bridge program that enables the thousands of stranded medical students from Ukraine to study in India is being recommended as the one-time solution for the current fiasco. The program tentatively titled, SETU (Safeguard Education and Transfer of University) can effectively enable the students to get accommodated in various colleges and universities in India through a special transfer program that is accompanied by capital assistance and an education loan. This should be further backed by a comprehensive insurance cover which the Government of India could launch through any of the national insurance corporations. The SETU program is the first-of-its-kind initiative globally that will fully take care of the transfer and rehabilitation of distressed students.

Commenting on the same, Rohan Prem Sagar, Board Member of the Dayananda Sagar Institutions and Dayananda Sagar University, said, “Indian government is doing a great job with the evacuation of students. They should consider extending the assistance further to safeguard the future of all the medical students through a much-needed bridge program and one-time capital assistance. I welcome the recommendation of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) to accommodate the returning students in Indian medical colleges for the remainder of their course by disbursing them to various colleges with the right modalities. The situation also requires urgent attention on two vital factors – establishing a national advisory on foreign education, and the launch of a comprehensive foreign education insurance policy.”

“With a population of 1.4 billion people, the medical infrastructure in India is still underserved and this episode only points to the dire need for more medical colleges to be set up across the length and breadth of the country. The Government of India (GOI) must launch a special incentive for setting up of medical education and infrastructure in India and could even explore an SEZ model or PPP model to get this to speed. It is also high time that easy access to medical education and disparity in fees are addressed on an urgent basis, “he added.

As an immediate temporary measure, the Government of India, while admitting the students to study in Indian medical colleges based on well-defined parameters, must also consider allowing these colleges to run a second shift or an extra shift to accommodate the academic and learning needs of the medical students from Ukraine. This approval from the GOI should allow them to

use the existing beds, infrastructure, faculty and other facilities without having to make any fresh or new investments or additions.

The government must also decide on the Foreign Medical Graduates Examination (FMGE) which these students are required to go through after the completion of the course. Since some part of their education happened outside India, there could be issues of alignment and methodology. Further, the students have to pay the same fee that they would be paying in Ukraine as also pay for hostels and food to the colleges in India which opt to accommodate this new requirement based on possible directions of the government. This is where a bridge loan will be useful which can be repaid by students once they complete the medical course and get into employment.

The Centre and National Medical Commission of India (NMC) are discussing modalities to accommodate thousands of Indian students pursuing medical education in Ukraine in either Indian medical colleges or those abroad so they can complete their courses and then appear for NEET-FMG. It would be apt if NMC examines the issue on humanitarian grounds and takes all efforts to support the students. GOI should ensure that the Ukrainian universities transfer the credits of the students opting to study in India under this scheme.

Finally, a Risk Nation List must be introduced by the Indian government that is updated periodically so that anyone looking to go overseas for education, has all the necessary information on the country of preference and could also check if any of those countries come under that list.