Indian medical students set to face great wall of China

The mad rush of Indian students to medical colleges in China for cheaper courses is likely to ebb with Beijing declaring that only 24 such colleges are fit to admit foreigners.

According to a communication sent by the Indian embassy in Beijing to the Medical Council of India (MCI) this week, the Chinese health education ministry has announced that only 2,000 foreigners would be admitted to these colleges.

Beijing's action is aimed at controlling the quality of medical education and checking the brazen profiteering by the colleges.

This announcement, though comes as a damper to the Indian situation, where on an average over 10,000 students have been joining the medical colleges in China for MBBS courses each year since 2002, is welcome as it leaves no scope for exploitation of desperate admission-seekers by agents.

As per the Chinese government notification, 30 colleges have been certified to impart education in English as against hundreds of Chinese medium medical colleges. This year, however, when admissions start in September, only 24 colleges would be entitled to offer courses to the foreigners.

"Chinese government still has to clear its stand on what happens to students who have been studying medicine in other colleges before this regulation came into force," Ravinder Kumar, a Delhi-based consultant who sends students to China, told Business Standard.

"The Indian embassy in Beijing told us that it would be seeking meetings with the Chinese government on this," MCI officials said.

For five years, confusion had prevailed on the fate of Indian students studying in various Chinese colleges. As the first batch of Indians with MBBS degrees in hand is likely to return home next year and approach the MCI for a screening test, New Delhi had asked Beijing to fix the criterion for the colleges.

According to the new norms, students have to obtain eligibility certificates from the MCI before taking admission abroad. This enables them to write a screening test on return after completing their course and seek registration.

MCI officials said so far they were not issuing any eligibility certificates for medical courses in China. "This year, however, we would be issuing certificates in case of 24 Chinese colleges only."