Video Producer: Varsha Rani
Video Editor: Rajbir Singh
On 29 May, we, the Indian medical students who are currently enrolled in Chinese universities, held a protest at New Delhi's Jantar Mantar with our parents urging the government to take concrete action to facilitate our return to respective universities in China.
In 2020, we returned home from China due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Two years on, we are still waiting to return to our universities.
Indian medical students and their parents protesting in New Delhi.
(Image courtesy: Shahroz Khan)
I'm currently pursuing MBBS from China and I'm in my third year right now. As we all know, China closed its borders and suspended all visas in February 2020.
Since then, we all have been waiting. It's been 850 days already. Because of all this, there is uncertainty around and we fear that our degrees might get cancelled or go to waste.
Medical Education Has Been Severely Challenged
Online classes are very stressful, especially when it comes to medicine. It was an option in difficult times, but not right now, when the world is going back to normalcy. There many like me who share the same concern:
"We are stuck in India and still having online classes. We are very stressed and worried about our future."Roopa, Student
Students and parents protesting in New Delhi.
(Image courtesy: Shahroz Khan)
India has banned a lot of Chinese apps and this has also become a huge problem for us to attend classes.
"Chinese apps are banned in India. So it's always a problem to attend online classes. The mental stress that we have to go through just to attend the classes now is a lot."Gurjot, Student
Protest held at Jantar Mantar.
(Image courtesy: Shahroz Khan)
"It is high time for the Indian, as well as the Chinese government, to work together and take quick action for the return of Indian students to China. Vaccinations, quarantine, rules and regulations... we are ready to follow to everything that comes with it."Rachita, Student
If the government cannot facilitate our return to China at the earliest, it can at least facilitate practical and clinical training in our respective states in India. These trainings should be recognised by the NMC (National Medical Commission) so that it's not a the problem for us in the future.
Gurjot, a third-year student from Himachal Pradesh said, "I got a chance to attend only one semester offline and I’m studying a course like medicine that requires practical training. It is a difficult task to do so."
He further added, "We have asked the authorities in China about our return and they keep saying that they will work in a coordinated manner for the return of the international students. They have been saying this for over two years now. I don’t know if I’ll ever go back to China even as all my important documents lie there. I don't know if I will ever become a good doctor. I constantly question myself."
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