Hyderabad: Coronavirus alert hits 3,000 medical students\' internship

Hyderabad: Over 3,000 medical students, who have completed only six months of internship and are not able to go back to China due to coronavirus, are now in the grip of fear and anxiety over whether they would be awarded an MBBS degree.

Besides those students, who were recently airlifted from Wuhan and are now in quarantine, there were many others, who had come for the winter break to India and cannot go back to complete their one-year internship.

The students are approaching their consultants and universities to appeal to the Centre to allow them to complete their internship. Their anxiety is caused by a Medical Council of India (MCI) norm that internships must be completed without any breaks.

With coronavirus widespread in China, it is not possible for these students to go back. But more than health, what is worrying them right now that the gap in their internship term could be considered as a break and disqualify them from getting a medical degree due to non-completion of internship. There are doubts whether the degrees will be awarded to them, given this ‘break’.

Dhirender Trivedy, managing director, Growell Education Consultancy Services for the Tianjin Medical University, China, explained, “The students are in India for safety reasons. Those of them who are in their last year have completed only six months of internship. They have to complete the remaining six months to qualify, according to MCI rules. They will have to write the NEET exam in India, where their internship certificates would also be considered. There is now a break. The MCI must look into problems of these students. The government of India must give them some relief as this is the time of crisis.”

Students are approaching consultants who helped them seek admissions to universities in China to bail them out of the present crisis.

A senior doctor with the MCI, on condition of anonymity, explained, “We have to wait and watch. We do not know how long this crisis will continue. The students cannot practice in India without clearing the NEET exams. They have to prepare for NEET, clear it and then only will they be registered in India. The internship issue will have to be discussed and looked into.”

There is a growing demand that these students must be allowed to complete their internship in India if the crisis continues for long. But senior doctors say that it was not possible as there are different teaching methods and bedside practices. To practice in India, a student has to clear NEET.

With a new Board of Governors to look into the issues of MCI, parents and consultants are planning to approach them to grant relief for internship.

Dr T Narsinga Reddy, senior doctor, said, “The best way forward for medical students from China is to give NEET exam, which will be held in June and December. In this way, they can make up for the lost time.”