What brings foreign students to the Holy Family Medical College Hospital?
Currently, 109 foreign students from India and two from other countries are enrolled in the Holy Family medical college. The number of foreign student admissions has increased every year except during the global pandemic. The Business Standard looks at the underlying reasons
The medical colleges of Bangladesh have always been a great attraction to foreign students. Even though the seat number in government medical colleges is very limited, the number of reserved seats for foreign students is gradually increasing in private medical colleges.
Recently, the Ministry of Health has ordered a reserve of 45% of the total number of seats in private medical and dental colleges for foreign students.
For many reasons, foreign students have more confidence in the medical education system of Bangladesh compared to the education system of many developed countries.
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Generally, through different local education consultancy institutions, these students apply to our medical colleges. They are selected based on their higher secondary school results. Educational expenditure and other expenses vary for them here from college to college.
Established in 2000, the Holy Family Red Crescent Medical College Hospital is a reliable name among all the private colleges in the country. Many students consider this institution their first choice as it ranks top in the private medical college list.
Currently, 111 foreign students are studying at Holy Family Red Crescent Medical College, among which 109 are from India. The Other two are Bangladeshi origin American and Spanish citizens.
The number of foreign student admissions has increased every year except during the global pandemic. This year, 47 new Indian students have been admitted to the institution.
Fakir Saiful Islam, the academic officer of the institution, shared with The Business Standard the reasons behind the ever-rising number of Indian students and their lives in Bangladesh.
Quality education at a low cost
Shadab Shafi Shora, a final-year student at Holy Family Medical College, has come to Bangladesh from Srinagar, the capital of Jammu and Kashmir in India.
"In India, it costs at least 1 to 1.5 crore rupees to complete a five-year MBBS course from a private medical college. With other expenditures, the overall cost accumulates in 2 to 3 crores which is anything but affordable for people like us," said Shadab, adding, "Other than the affluent class, no one considers pursuing this. Starting a business with this hefty amount of money is much more logical to us."
And, "at Holy Family, it costs us around Tk40 to 50 lakh for the same course. Besides, the cost of living in Dhaka is very reasonable. The curriculum is also very similar across the border. Hence, many of us are encouraged to study in Bangladesh," he further explained.
According to Shadab, for the last 10-15 years, people have been coming to Bangladesh from Kashmir for various jobs stemming from the gradual increase in interest of Kashmiris towards the education system of Bangladesh.
Similar cultural landscape
Once a part of British India (before the 1947 Partition), India and Bangladesh have many cultural similarities. Although there are linguistic differences, Bangla language has a lot of similarities with Hindi. So the Indian students do not have to face many difficulties in understanding a new language.
In fact, these students are able to speak Bangla fluently within a year. In the medical education system, there is no substitute for learning the details of the disease by talking to the patients. Hence, the students must gain proficiency in the local language.
Language learning is much more complex in countries like Russia, Ukraine, etc. Hence, Indians are always inclined to Bangladeshi medical colleges.
Moreover, due to the religious majority of Muslims, Indian Muslim parents are more likely to send their children to study in Bangladesh. Although there are several differences in food, the staple of the two countries are similar, making the students adapt to the new diet easily.
Challenges in adapting to a new environment
Regardless of the geographical proximity, these foreign students generally have to face various adverse experiences in adapting themselves to the new country. One of those is adapting to the climatic differences.
Abrar Hossain Tarfarosh, a student from Kashmir, said, "The weather in Kashmir is very different from Bangladesh. Winter in Kashmir is freezing, and due to the low humidity, summer there is very comfortable. We never had to use AC in Kashmir. But Bangladesh has very hot weather all year round, and we have to depend on AC 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It was quite difficult for us to adjust to the temperature difference."
While coping with the scorching heat of Bangladesh, Kashmir's Rownak Arash has to deal with severe migraines on a regular basis. Due to the weather and pollution of this country, he often falls ill.
On the other hand, the weather in Bangladesh is much cooler for Minaj Khan from Chennai. He said, "Chennai is never so cold as it is in winter in Bangladesh. The first time I came here, I fell ill with a severe cold. I have been living in this country for almost three years, but I keep catching a cold and cough every other month."
Adjusting to Bangladeshi cuisine is also not a walk in the park for these foreign students.
Abrar said, "In Kashmir, we used to have salt tea, which is never available in Bangladesh. Besides, in Kashmir, we use cow's milk in tea, whereas here we mostly drink tea with condensed milk. Kashmiris like spicier food, but the spice level here is quite moderate. Mutton is consumed more in Kashmir than chicken or beef. We had to change our eating habits a lot."
Even Chennai's Minaj Khan has gotten used to rice-parata instead of the idli-dosa from his South Indian diet.
Jasmin Khan, who hails from Kolkata, also had to get used to eating refined wheat flour bread instead of regular flour bread. However, since the language and climate of Dhaka are similar to Kolkata, Jasmin has been able to adapt more easily than others.
The severity of the spike in dengue fever in the country is also making an impact on these foreign students' lives. They shared that many of them are suffering from dengue fever.
The foreign students' favourites
Apart from adapting to the surrounding conditions, these foreign students have embraced Bangladesh in a short time. After getting used to the food, kacchi biryani of this country has become a common favourite food for nearly all of them. Moreover, these students are also getting used to local food, fish and rice.
Although they do not get much time due to the never-ending stress of studies, during weekends and holidays, they love to go to restaurants in Gulshan, Banani or Dhanmondi to find their favourite food. They even visit Mawa Ghat to grab the authentic taste of Padma's fresh Hilsa.
These foreign students also go to places like Sylhet and Cox's Bazar on tour with Bangladeshi friends or on study tours from college.
The visa and travel factor
Although satisfied with the education system of Bangladesh in medicine, foreign students who come to study in this country often have to face serious problems.
Abrar said, "The government of this country does not give five-year visas to foreign students who come to study in Bangladesh. Every year the visas have to be renewed, which is very problematic for us. When we were all stuck in India due to Covid-19 lockdowns, all the visas expired and we missed some of the classes due to visa complications.
Besides, there is no direct flight from Bangladesh to Kashmir. Every time we have to travel through Kolkata or Delhi, which is quite time-consuming and troublesome. Flight tickets are also very expensive. There is no fixed price for tickets. We have to buy tickets at different prices at different times."
These Indian students of Holy Family Medical College feel that if these problems are solved, many more foreign students would be interested in studying at Bangladeshi Medical Colleges.
