Soon after Union Minister Pralhad’s Joshi gave his statement regarding medical studies, Twitter is now again on fire. The minister, today, while addressing the parliament, has said that 90% of the Indians who study medicine abroad fail to clear the qualifying exams in India. However, he also responded that the present situation is not the right time to debate the reason why the students are moving out of India to study medicine in another country.
The statement of the minister has faced severe criticism from the students as well as stakeholders. According to a Twitter user, students leave the country to study abroad mostly due to the huge demand-supply gap that prevails in India. Every year, nearly 16 lakh candidates appear for the highly-competitive NEET examination. However, the number of seats is not as high as that of the number of candidates. These candidates then have to compete for nearly 01 lakh seats in the MBBS and BDS courses. This is not the end because the seats under the management quota in the private colleges are not affordable.
Another significant reason why students decide to move out of the country is that the number of intake in the medical colleges and institute is limited. Reportedly, private colleges tend to oppose the NEET exam. Students have also claimed that due to the reservation system, and sky-high tuition fees for medical courses like MBBS many are unable to get admission.
At this point, Twitter is filled with comments and criticism regarding the minister’s statement. However, a tweet in which the user has sarcastically mentioned that the minister is ‘factually correct‘. However, the question of merit is completely overlooked in this instance. Indian students who want to practice medicine in India have to appear and qualify for the Foreign Medical Graduates Examination (FMGE). Thus, in a way, these medical professionals have to prove their merit almost twice, once before studying medicine and then after completing the degree.
Some have even blamed the Indian government for this development. According to this Twitter user, if there would have been adequate funding for education in the country, then there wouldn’t be any shortage of seats. The entire fiasco has highlighted this drawback. Indian students who are now stuck in Ukraine amidst the war-like situation are now being evacuated back to the country.
