New Delhi

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday told the Lok Sabha that India is in touch with Ukraine's neighbouring countries Hungary, Romania, Kazakhstan and Poland to help evacuated medical students from the war-torn country to pursue their studies.

"We have been in touch with Hungary, Romania, Czech Republic, Kazakhstan and Poland (about continuing education for the students evacuated from Ukraine) because they have similar models of education," he said in Lok Sabha.

Responding to the Opposition's concerns over the disruption of the studies of Indian medical students evacuated from Ukraine, Jaishankar said that India is in talks with Poland, Romania, Kazakhstan, and Hungary to find ways to help the affected students complete their education.

On the Opposition’s criticism that the government sent Union ministers to neighbouring countries to gain political mileage, Jaishankar said that the presence of the ministers helped the evacuation process.

"Had the four ministers not gone to countries neighbouring Ukraine, India would not have got the same level of cooperation from them, and, in fact, the ministers worked as a team," he said.

Commenting on India's advisories, Jaishankar said: "Our advisories helped people get updates on which border was open and where to move for them in Ukraine."

He further said that Ukraine Government decided that there'll be relaxation (for students) in respect of completion of the medical education.

"The KROK 1 (Ukrainian Medical Examination) exam, for 3rd-year medical students to go to the 4th year, postponed to next academic year while students are allowed to progress to the next academic year on the basis of the completion of the study requirement," Janshankar said.

He added that for 6th-year students, there is an exam called KROK 2. The Ukraine Government decided that on the basis of the results of academic assessments, they will be awarded degrees without taking KROK, he said.