Maldivian medical students in Bangladesh protest over registration

A large number of medical students – including 28 Maldivian students - from University of Science and Technology of Chittagong, Bangladesh are protesting over failure to register the students with Bangladesh Medicine and Dental Council.

28 Maldivian students have been studying medicine at USTC in Batch 25 and Batch 26 since 2013.

Usual procedure is that the university register students with the BMDC. Students allege USTC has not registered Batch 25 and Batch 26 students with the BMDC. And failed to inform the students of the fact.

A Maldivian student protester reported that Batch 25 students will be sitting for their MBBS exams later in January, but that USTC has still not registered them with BMDC.

“The council said they can’t register students because there are too many students in the two batches. We got to know about this after started studying here and even sat for a major exam,” said the student.

The student reported they learnt about the failure to register them with the BMDC in 2013; upon which they relayed the information to Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Maldives, Ministry of Education of Maldives, and Maldivian embassy in Bangladesh.

The issue was discussed with officials from Bangladheshi government and USTC during a visit to Bangladesh by former Maldivian Minister of Health Dr. Ahmed Jamsheed Mohamed and members of Maldivian medical council.

The students were informed USTC would contest the decision of BMDC in court.

Maldivian government and Maldivian medical council discussed the issue with Bangladeshi government again in 2014.

MBBS exams are due to start in January 23, and there are about 1,000 students who remain unregistered.

In addition to 28 students from Maldives, the figure includes students from India, Sri Lanka and Bhutan.

The Maldivian students are taking part in the large demonstration which have been taking place at USTC since January 9.

The student protesters have demanded that they be registered with BMDC if the university wished to hold any classes or exams.

“The purpose of the protest is – university may attempt to extract huge fines from us because we are unregistered. And, we won’t be students once the exams are over. If the university overlooks this, then it’s a lost cause,” said a student.

“There’s no use in sitting the exams without getting registered. We can’t practice medicine anywhere. Can’t even do an internship,” said the student.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Maldives reported they were aware of the situation, and that they were discussing on what can be done with the relevant authorities.

Meanwhile, Indian medical students studying in USTC have also reached out to their government over the issue.

Minister of External Affairs of India, Sushma Swaraj tweeted on Friday, January 13 that Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh, Harsh Shringla was discussing the issue with USTC and BMDC.

Maldives appointed a new ambassador to Bangladesh – Aishath Shaan Shakir – on December 29, 2017. But she is yet to visit Bangladesh.