With MCI clearly stating in February, last month, ‘Qualifying NEET will be mandatory for students who wish to pursue a Medical-UG degree abroad with effect from May 2018’, the students who were specifically studying in Philippines who went in the year 2016 and 2017, came under the wheel of pressure.
This was because, Philippines followed US Based System of Medicine which requires to clear a Pre-Med Course before joining MD, which is equivalent to MBBS in India. The students who went in the year 2016 and 2017 are pursuing their BS currently and are yet to receive an ‘Eligibility Certificate’ from MCI which it will only provide before the start of MD. Unfortunately for many students, their MD will only start after May 2018, which is the deadline issued by MCI. And owing to this anomaly, the students are being forced to appear and qualify for NEET’18.
The parents of the affected students are taking the fight against the sordid rule in the right direction. Parents are forming groups in all the states of India. They are organising meetings with the agenda of making their voices heard by the Centre so that rectifications could be made.
Both soft and hardcopies of letters have been mailed to all the relevant cabinets of the Ministry. This includes The MOH-FW, The Ministry of External Affairs, etc. Parents have also organised meetings with bureaucrats of various ministries and asked of them to represent the agenda before the concerned authorities. To summarise few meetings, parents from Maharashtra, met Honorable Minister Shri.Nitin Gadkari and submitted their Petitions to The Minister. Another group of parents hailing from Mizoram met and expressed their concerns to Mr Ronald Sapa Tlau, MP, Mizoram. Other meetings are being continually planned and are on the verge of execution. Some of which include, ‘Meetings with Hon’ble Minister Sri Ananth Kumar and Hon’ble MP Sri Mohan’. This meeting will be conducted by the parents who hail from Bangalore and Mysore.
Another team of parents have scheduled a meet with Honourable Minister Mr J.P.Nadda, Union Health & Family Welfare and going to represent the conflicts and the problems which almost 4000 students studying BS-MD in the Philippines are facing.
An internal meeting of the parents was scheduled for March 5, 2018, at 11:30 am at in New Delhi.
The issue is being adequately represented at the centre and needs to be solved so as to save the lives students and the affected parents who are trying empowering their daughters/sons to become Doctors, for the betterment of the nation. WHO quotes a Doctor to patient ratio of 1:1000 and India according to latest statistics fall way short by 1:1800. Where the affected children are thriving to improve this situation, the rule regarding NEET’18 demotivates and burdens them heavily.