NAGPUR: For aspiring doctors, Shanghai dreams are for real. Those unable to secure or afford a seat in an Indian medical college now seek solace in China.
Take Ritesh Kale, for example. Last year, Ritesh’s dreams of becoming a doctor crashed. He did not have the marks to get into a government medical college, nor did his father have enough money to buy him a seat in a private one.
But now, Ritesh is a second year MBBS student in a renowned Chinese university. “China is a dream place to stay, great campus, nice people, devoted teachers and fabulous facilities,” he smiles. The only problem Ritesh faces is language. Chinese is tough to learn, and following the English pronunciation of Chinese teachers is also difficult.
Despite this, an increasing number of students from across the country are flying to China for medical education. According to the Medical Council of India (MCI), about 5,000 students bagged seats in Chinese universities in 2005, up from barely 500 students in 2003.
So what is the USP of China? According to Vishwajeet Kshirsagar, director of SEAES Education Private Limited, who has sent scores of students to China in the last three years, “Students go to China for the high standards of teaching and facilities.”
Entry-level requirements may be easier, but students swear by their universities. “Chinese medical colleges are way ahead of our institutions,” declares Kartikeya Chaturvedi, a third-year MBBS student of Soochow University. “They admit us with a minimum of 50 per cent marks in HSC, but we are made to work so hard that by the time we finish MBBS, we’ll be as good our meritorious counterparts here.”
The economics is also attractive. A student who fails to get a government quota seat on merit basis would spend anything between Rs 30 lakh to 75 lakh in a private medical college for an MBBS degree in India. Compare this with Rs 12-15 lakh for the same degree in Russia, and Rs 8-9 lakh in China (including lodging and boarding expenses), and the equation is clear. “Becoming a doctor is cheaper in China than in India,” says Achal Shrikhande, a second year student of medicine at Soochow University. He headed for China with a few friends last year after a local private medical college offered him a seat against a donation of Rs 25 lakh, apart from the annual fee of Rs 4 lakh. On the flip side, there appear to be some roadblocks for China-bound students with the MCI announcing that it will recognise only those foreign universities that are registered with it, and not all universities recognised by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Firms like the SEAES allege that the private medical colleges lobby has mounted pressure on the MCI, as it is losing good business to foreign universities.
But Chinese university authorities are quick to stress that the Russian experience will not be repeated and that students will have no problem in passing the MCI screening tests, necessary for them to be able to practise back home in India.
Meanwhile, until the first batch of Indian students return from China in three years’ time, one just has to wait to see if their experiment has succeeded.
Comments