The Northern Russian city of Arkhangelsk, located 1,200 km from Moscow, has been a much sought after destination for medical studies for aspirants from Kerala. But for the past few weeks, the hundreds of Malayali students at the Northern State Medical University there have been going through an uncertain phase, in waiting for flights back home even as their visa expiry date looms large.
In this one University, there are around 400 students from Kerala, with thousands more in Moscow and in the smaller countries which were part of the former Soviet Union. Before the COVID-19 outbreak, most of them had reserved tickets to come back home for the vacation in July. With flights getting cancelled, and the visa renewal date approaching on July 31, they have been trying to get into the repatriation flights to India. Till now, only a few have been lucky.
“I managed to reach Kerala earlier today with 50 others in a Vande Bharat flight, but around 350 from my university are still waiting for their turn. Since there has been a spurt in COVID-19 cases in the region, all of them want to get home at the earliest and have registered with the Indian embassy and NoRKA. As there are a large number of students, they have been choosing a few at random from various colleges for the repatriation flights,” says Rizwan, a student.
The Kerala Association of Guardians for Assistance to Indian Students in Erstwhile Soviet Union (KAGASS), formed back in 1991 to sort out the issues faced by Malayali students after the dissolution of Soviet Union, had last week written to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to take steps to bring them back.
“Though two flights have come from Russia, only around 60 students have managed to get back till now. The final year students are staying back, as they have clinical practise training, but the rest of them prefer to attend online classes from Kerala. Since their visa renewal dates are approaching, they should be given preference in these flights,” says Lalu Joseph, general secretary of KAGASS.
With the number of cases in Russia shooting up and the country hitting the fourth place in the number of cases, there has been some level of concern among the students. The flights being from Moscow, a major hotspot, is another cause of tension.
“My son, who is a second year medical student, has been trying for tickets for some days, but has been unable to get into the first two repatriation flights. Now, the next phase is only expected later this month,” says Anilkumar, a parent.