The Indian Supreme Court has ruled that medical students who had to return from Ukraine, China, and Philippines due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the war can take the MBBS final examination in two attempts. For clearing the exam they do not require to enroll in any medical college in India. The court accepted the recommendation made by an expert committee formed by the government to allow penultimate year students to take the exam as a one-time extraordinary measure. However, the committee’s recommendation that the students be given only one attempt was modified by the court to two attempts. The court made this ruling after hearing a batch of pleas filed by medical students who completed seven semesters in their respective foreign universities and had to return to India to complete their undergraduate medical course online.

The petitions sought accommodation of such undergraduate students of first to fourth year from various medical college/universities to medical colleges in India and other reliefs. On December 30, 2022, the Centre set up a committee for finding a possible solution for problems faced by foreign medical graduates from Ukraine/China, who have completed online classes of the undergraduate medical course from the penultimate year onwards. The panel recommended that the students may be offered a “single chance” to clear the MBBS final, both part-I and part-II (both theory and practical) as per the existing National Medical Commission syllabus and guidelines without being enrolled in any of the existing Indian Medical Colleges. This recommendation was modified by the top court  to two chances.

Supreme Court Permits MBBS Students Returning from Ukraine, China to Clear Exam in Two Attempts

The committee recommended that the students can give and clear the examination within an year. Part-I will be followed by Part-II after one year. Also.,Part II will be allowed only after Part-I is cleared. The theory paper examination could be conducted centrally and physically on the pattern of the Indian MBBS examination, and practical could be conducted by some designated government medical colleges assigned the responsibility.

The panel has said that after clearing these two examinations, they would have to complete two years of compulsory rotatory internship, first year of which will be free and the second year paid as has been decided by NMC for previous cases. The committee has emphasized that this option be strictly a one-time option and not become a basis for similar decisions in the future and shall be applicable for the present matter only in view of directions of court in the matter.

On December 9 last year, the top court had asked the Centre to find out a solution in consultation with the National Medical Commission to address this “humane problem.” The bench noted that a very precarious situation had arisen, and the students had already completed their course, and it would not be possible for them to return to the respective institutions to complete clinical training insofar as the relation between them and their respective institution is severed.

The top court agreed with the view of the Centre that, in a medical course, practical/clinical training is of utmost importance, and the academic studies cannot take the color of practical training. The bench noted that various situations were beyond human control, and the situation like the COVID pandemic has been unimaginable. “We find that the career of around 500 medical students who have already put in five years of study is at stake. They have already completed seven semesters of study physically and three semesters through online…The parents of the students must have spent a huge amount on their studies. If no solution is found, at this stage, the entire career of these students would be left in the lurch, apart from the families being put at sufferance,” the top court said.