New Delhi: Why are there so many Malayalee medical students in Ukraine? Students say they can complete their studies in Ukraine at half the rate of completing an MBBS in private medical colleges in India.
Even those who have secured better ranks in the NEET examination are not eligible for admission in India. There are 18,000 Indian students studying in Ukraine. One fifth of them are Malayalees. There are 3493 Malayalee students registered with NORKA from Ukraine seeking help.
40 lakhs in Kerala; 25 lakhs in Ukraine
More than 1.5 million students across the country will appear for the National Medical Entrance Examination (NEET-UG) by 2021. The total number of MBBS seats is 88,120. Of these, about 50,000 seats are in 313 government institutions. If you want to study here, you have to get a high rank in NEET.
The tuition fee for a self-financing medical college in Kerala this year is `6.94 lakh (fees vary from college to college) plus the first year’s special and hostel fees, which would be Rs 8.5 lakh. For 15% NRI seats, the annual fee is Rs 20 lakh. Completion of 5 years of study in self financing institutions in Kerala will cost over `40 lakh. In NRI seats, it will be over one crore.
The annual tuition fee for MBBS studies in Ukraine is $ 4000–5000 (between Rs. 3–3.75 lakhs). The hostel fee costs about $ 350 per year. This will decrease if those who find their own accommodation outside. At the time of joining the first year, a student paid $ 7,400 (Rs. 5.55 lakhs) in addition to the tuition fee, including registration, admission fee and visa fees. The course can be completed at a cost of Rs. 22–25 lakhs for a 6 year course including food and travel.
The pass percentage in the FMG exam is only 25%
Medical students who have completed their studies abroad must pass the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE) to practice in India. Of the 23,349 candidates who wrote the exam last December, only 5,665 (24.26%) passed. It is estimated that about 4,000 graduates from Ukraine write FMGE each year, of which less than 400 pass.
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