Mumbai’s Chinese varsity medical students await lifting of curbs

China’s visa curbs on; students hassled as they won’t get degree sans internship; apps not recognised, some miss classes too.

At a time when higher educational institutes are gearing up to restart and bring their students back on campus in a phased manner for physical classes, medical aspirants pursuing their degree from universities in China are still in the lurch.

For representational purpose only. (HT FILE)

After spending months back home due to the Covid-19 lockdown around the world, the recent statement released by the Chinese government still gives no clear deadline on when the ban on international students ends. Earlier this week, Taiwan lifted its ban on international students but mainland China is yet to decide on the matter.

“I had already started my medical internship in January 2020 at First Hospital of Jilin University when the Covid-19 situation in China started getting out of hand and everyone was asked to stay home. By February, our families back home started getting worried and most foreign students flew back home as the country was under severe lockdown restrictions,” said Rajesh P, a final-year student who has been at home in Santacruz since February 2020.

According to the rules in China, MBBS students finish their final-year course and immediately have to complete a 52-week physical internship in assigned hospitals in order to be awarded MBBS degree. While the first, second and third-year MBBS students are currently attending lectures online, final-year students are at a loss as their internship can only be completed once the lockdown restrictions are lifted.

According to data from UNESCO, in 2018 and 2019, China received around 500,000 international students annually — the third highest in the world after the United States and United Kingdom.

Official data shows that in 2018, more than 23,000 Indian students were enrolled in various programmes in China. Indians represent the fourth largest group of international students in China, after South Korea, Thailand and Pakistan.

“Even though we are attending regular lectures online, the fact that many Chinese mobile applications have been banned in India leaves us with very limited options to contact our institute officials and friends in China. Some of our batch mates have also complained about their attendance not being registered since several apps are not recognised in India,” said a third-year medical student on condition of anonymity.

While students in India are in constant touch with Indian Embassy officials in Beijing, many have now started support groups on various social networking sites to reach out to other international students facing the same problem.

“Out of desperation, many of us are sharing our story on Facebook and Instagram, hoping to attract the attention of Indian as well as Chinese government. With lockdown restrictions easing out slowly, even the universities in China can surely start bringing back students to campus in phases and insist on the 14-day quarantine period before starting physical classes,” said another student.

Meanwhile, students in Jianghan University in Wuhan, China, said they had received communication from the university that their degrees will now say ‘MBBS in clinical medicine’.

“My university sent us notice that they are changing our course to clinical medicine. We don’t know what is the meaning of MBBS in clinical medicine,” said Neha, a third-year MBBS student at the university.