Kazakh academicians allay safety fears of Indian students

Nagpur: Kyrgyzstan and its neighbouring areas have come a long way and reposed a sense of safety among foreign students in the last nine years since the deadly riots when hundreds of Indians were airlifted from that country.
According to medical teachers and academicians from the central Asian countries, who were in the city on Wednesday, Indian students now no more need to worry about their safety as several communities are living in harmony there.
They said students from over 50 nationalities are pursuing different careers in Kyrgyzstan where at least 100 Indians were stranded in 2010 before the Indian government evacuated them, and the neighbouring Kazakhstan. In fact, Kazakhstan has largely been peaceful in the years preceding the shift from communism to democracy in the former Soviet Union nations.
“Kazakhstan has now emerged as a quality education destination, especially in medical studies. The country has less population than entire Delhi and no worries about learning resources,” said urologist Dr Varun Tamrakar, who had seen the 2005 conflict in Kyrgyzstan.
Tamrakar, a native of Raipur, has done MBBS from Bishkek and returned to India after completing the studies.
“Medical students need to only worry about learning and their career while pursuing higher education either in Kyrgyzstan or Kazakhstan. The region has restored its lost glory and now several foreign students are flocking to universities there.
Besides Tamrakar, Dr Aisulu Zholdibaeva and Botakoz Myrzakhmetova from Kazakhstan Russian Medical University at Almaty said they don’t remember if foreign students ever faced any danger even when the neighbouring country was burning.
“Kazakhs love their guests. We have so many Indians studying in our country. No incident has been reported in the last nine years,” Dr Aisulu said.
Myrzakhmetova said, “We are cohabiting as a big family. We respect foreigners. We have different languages, religions and nationalities living peacefully,” she said.
Tamrakar said the situation was worse in 2005 when he was there. “But we never had to worry about our safety,” he said.
Dr Aisulu said International School of Medicine has four institutes spread across Bishkek, Issykul and Almaty (both in Kazakhstan) from where over 3,500 doctors have passed out.
“Our MBBS programme is compliant with Medical Council of India and offers a good alternative to those who can’t get through tough India’s admission processes here,” she said.