West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Wednesday wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to relax the rules of the National Medical Commission (NMC) for the students who were forced to leave Ukraine due to the imminent danger and threat to their lives amid a war with Russia.
Banerjee wrote, “As per the current guidelines of the NMC, students who are eligible for the internship, will be allowed to undergo the internship in government medical colleges of the state and they will be also paid the stipend at par with the other candidates.”
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She further wrote, “For other students in different years of their studies, they may be allowed to get admitted at the equivalent level in the private medical colleges against the existing seats and these medical colleges may be allowed to increase the equivalent number of seats for accommodating these students.”
She also informed Modi that the private medical colleges of the state have agreed to accommodate these students at the state quota fees.
The letter also mentioned, “The present stipulations of the NMC mandate that only those students who qualify the National Entrance Eligibility Test (NEET-UG) can only get admission into the medical colleges. Many of the students who have returned from Ukraine do not meet this requirement. It is requested that the relevant guidelines may be relaxed as a very special case to accommodate these students.”
Also Wednesday, Banerjee interacted with the 391 students who returned to West Bengal from Ukraine. The students conveyed to the chief minister that they are facing a financial crunch. Banerjee agreed and assured that the state government will do everything possible for them.