Chinese authorities have told Indian officials that they are working on an “early return” for the thousands of Indian medical students who have been waiting for two years to resume their studies. They have not, however, offered a timetable of when that might occur. The Indian Embassy in Beijing said in a statement on Tuesday “the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China has assured the Embassy that they are cognizant of the welfare of all foreign students, including Indian students, and have also conveyed that they will work on their early return to China in a coordinated manner and will continue contact with the Embassy on this matter.” The Embassy said it “has been continuously highlighting these issues with the relevant Chinese authorities in the last two years.”
“In this regard, for medical students, in particular, the issue of in-person education is of paramount importance as it is impossible to undertake such studies in a remote manner,” the statement said. “In addition, the National Medical Council (NMC) of India has also clarified that students cannot appear for FMGE [Foreign Medical Graduates Examination] in India if the medical courses are conducted in an online mode. Accordingly, the notification of NMC (issued on February 8, 2022) has also been formally conveyed to the relevant Chinese authorities, so that they are mindful of the concerns of Indian students, who are enrolled with them or are planning to enroll at a later date.” The Chinese government also “conveyed that the return of Indian students was not a political issue and they will not be discriminated in any manner while deciding on the return of foreign students to China to resume their education.” China told visiting Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan earlier this month that it would facilitate the return of Pakistani students, but has not yet offered a timetable in that case either. As The Hindu reported last month, two years on after thousands of Indian medical students saw their education in China abruptly put on hold, students are still in the dark about when they can return. Students from half a dozen medical colleges in China, who have remained in India over the past two years, told The Hindu in interviews that they have been given no information about when they can return and that their online classes have left them unprepared as some face imminent graduation having missed out on practical training that is a crucial component of medical education. “Some of us are going to graduate with degrees that are only on paper, while we have wasted our family’s savings,” said one student enrolled in a college in Tianjin. There are more than 23,000 Indian medical students enrolled in Chinese programmes.
