Indian Students In Limbo At DY Patil’s Mauritius Campus!

Indian students at DY Patil Medical College's campus in Mauritius are staring at an uncertain future as the college's recognition is under question. Several students who sought admission to the first-year undergraduate programme were asked to cancel it and 100% of their fees were refunded early this month. 

The ones who are studying there for the last two years were assured that they will be allowed to complete their degree. But with no approval, the students are worried that they will not be able to complete the mandatory 5,000 hours of practicals in hospitals, which they need to start right away. 

An official from the institute, however, said that they are in possession of all the required documents and fulfil all the infrastructure-related requirements. "There was a change in government in Mauritius and the new government wants to relook at all the affiliation-related issues. They were to constitute a committee to look into the matter, but we do not have any official document on the development," said the official. Since the matter is not getting resolved soon, the management is approaching local institutes in Mauritius asking them to take over the institute so that the existing students do not suffer, said the official. He added, "There is one more institute which is affected." 


Close to 60 students from Maharashtra, Gujarat and Haryana are still studying on the campus; around 75 who took admissions in the first year cancelled it. The parents are now planning to meet the management officials in the first week of May to seek clarification on the matter. The fees in the Mauritian campus were slightly lower than the fees charged in the Indian campus, claimed the students. 

A parent of a student, who is in Mauritius, said that a group of students even staged a hunger strike two days ago on the campus, seeking clarity on the issue. The parent said, "There is no clarity on whether the institute will be allowed to continue. We were told that the management has failed to fulfil some pre-requisite norms related to infrastructure prescribed by the local government. The authorities here have said that the students who are already studying will not be affected. But with no recognition from the government, local hospitals are refusing to allow the students for practicals." 

Another parent said, "If they do not start now, they will not be able to fulfil the requirement (of 5,000 hours) and therefore will not be eligible to appear for the exam." 

The medical college in Mauritius, which is run by the holding organisation, DY Patil Worldwide Limited, was allowed to start admissions for the MBBS programme in May 2013. The courses are affiliated to the University of Technology in Mauritius and the courses are provisionally accredited by the Tertiary Education Commission. The college had to already discontinue the postgraduate programme too recently, after doubts were raised on the availability of infrastructure. Students who would complete the MBBS exam conducted by the University of Technology will be eligible to appear for the screening test conducted by the National Board of Examination in India.