Spell out stand on petitions by medical students who could not complete their clinical training in China due to Covid-led travel restrictions: SC
New Delhi, November 30
The Supreme Court has asked the government to spell out stand on petitions filed by medical students who could not complete their clinical training in China due to Covid-19 travel restrictions.
These students have sought to be accommodated in the Indian medical education system as an extraordinary, humanitarian measure.
“You have to look at this problem from a humanitarian angle. You have to find a solution,” a Bench led by Justice BR Gavai told state medical councils.
The court’s comments came after senior counsel S Nagamuthu told the Bench that despite a Bench led by Justice Hemant Gupta (since retired) allowing repatriated Indian students of 2015-20 batch to undergo clinical training in India and get provisionally registered, Kerala and Tamil Nadu governments refused to extend the relief to students of the batch 2016-21 hit by similar travel restrictions.
The counsel representing the Tamil Nadu state medical council opposed it, saying, “These students failed to secure admission in India and that’s why they went abroad. How can Indian patients be allowed to be treated by these students? They are not technically qualified.”
As the Bench sought to know if they had passed Foreign Medical Graduate Examination, the counsel said the petitioners claimed to have passed the screening test. “Then, we can restrict any relief to those who have passed the test,” the Bench said.
“We are being circumspect because the license to become a doctor is not the license to treat but also to kill,” Additional Solicitor-General Aishwarya Bhati said.
The Bench is also hearing petitions of Indian students returned from Ukraine due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine seeking accommodation in Indian educational institutions.
