DY Patil's medical college in Mauritius leaves students in limbo; college says there is no guarantee degree will be valid

Harrowed parents of 36 students, many of whom are stranded in Mauritius, staged a protest outside politician DY Patil's apartments in Mumbai on Monday.

Standing in the burning heat with placards, they refused to budge from outside the Siddartha Apartments, where Patil and his family resides in the 12th to 15th floors.

The aggrieved parents demanded a recourse for their wards, who are left high and dry after the reported derecognition of the Dr DY Patil Medical College in Mauritius.

The college was started in 2013 in Altima building at the cybercity campus of Ebene in Mauritius by the group's company, DY Patil Worldwide Ltd. Unsuspecting parents of up to 50 students, most of them Indians, were made to visit the campus in Mauritius. They eventually enrolled their children for the four-and-a-half-year-long under-graduate course, touted to be an MBBS degree, in the first batch of August 2013.

A batch of 50 students were admitted to the college that time. Hyderabad-based Narmeen Sayyeda (20) attempted suicide on May 27 by slitting her wrist in the hostel premises, after managing director Dr Sanjay Patil told the students that they do not have any future in the college, and, in due course, the college will wind up. He even asked the students to collect their refund of their fee – over Rs 20 lakh.

The criteria of admission in the Mauritian college was 60% marks or above in the 12th grade. The fees are exorbitant. During the entire span of 4.5 years, students have to cough up over Rs 30 lakh, apart from lodging and boarding expenses in the exotic country.

"After spending up to two years in the college, Dr Patil said that the trust will not guarantee whether the degree is valid or not. The college has run into trouble with the government of Mauritius, which has refused to recognise the degree awarded by the institution," said Narmeen.

She was so depressed that she locked herself in the bathroom and slit her wrist. She was found unconscious and bleeding by her friends, who broke open the door and rushed her to the Victoria hospital in Mauritius.

After the admission of the first batch, the DY Patil Group conducted two more rounds of admissions in February 2014, and a batch of 20 students was enrolled. Later, in August 2014, up to 77 students were admitted.

"Within seven months, the latest batch was refunded Rs 11 lakh and was asked to withdraw their admission," said VK Sharma, a parent.

Students from the August 2013 and February 2014 batches, however, stayed on in Mauritius to mark their protests. Shriya Sharma (21), from the first batch, who hails from Jaipur, is currently awaiting some resolution. She said that the college lacked basic infrastructure.

"We are not provided cadavers for dissection during practical training. Every medical student needs to train in a hospital. Our clinical training, which was to have started in December last year, has not commenced till date," Shriya told dna from Mauritius. An under-graduate has to complete minimum 5,000 hours of practicals to get the degree.

The brochure of the Mauritian college (dna has a copy) states that clinical training will be provided at the Jawaharlal Nehru Hospital at Rose Belle, a hospital with 500 beds.

The students allege that DY Patil Group had lured them into seeking admission by claiming that the college had a tie-up with the Jawaharlal Nehru hospital.

"It later came to light that the college had no affiliation and that JN hospital was up to 30 km away from the college," said Munira Mustaqeem, a student of the February 2014 batch.

The college ran into trouble with the change in the government of Mauritius, which has questioned its affiliation to the University of Technology, Mauritius (the awarding body of the degree), for want of infrastructure.

"If the Mauritian government were to endorse the degree, we would have been able to complete our medical education and return to India. Later, we could have appeared for the Medical Council of India's exams for clearance of foreign-educated doctors to practise in India. But with no support from the Mauritian government, we are now left in the lurch," said Munira Mustaqeem, a student from the February 2014 batch, who hails from Mumbai.

On Monday, DY Patil talked with the protesting parents over the phone and assured them that students who have spent two years in Mauritius will not be left in the lurch. "Patil told us that they will be accommodated in the institutes run by the group in Kolhapur, Pune and Navi Mumbai and will be allowed to complete their degrees," said Sharma.

"We have wasted two full years of our career in Mauritius and are stranded at the island with coursework having stopped 3-4 months ago," said Shriya.

Patil's solutions is questionable as any student seeking admission for MBBS degree in private or public colleges in Maharashtra has to appear for medical entrance examinations.

Medical education minister Vinod Tawde said: "This issue has to be referred to the ministry of external affairs. I will study the issue by discussing it with the trustees of the DY Patil Group."

Former Congress minister Satej Patil, one of the directors at the Mauritian college, was unavailable for comments.

Founded over 28 years ago, the DY Patil Group has an annual budget of $1.7 billion. They run over 150 educational institutions, where more than 96,000 students seek degrees in medicine, engineering and management.