The cabinet today agreed to extend the recognition of degrees from the Crimea State Medical University (CSMU) in Ukraine to include the 247 Malaysian students currently undergoing the 10-month preparatory course there.

The June 16 announcement by the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) that CSMU degrees will not be recognised after January 2006 shocked many, including the Ukraine Embassy, which maintains that there was no official notification to date.

Contacted today, MIC president S Samy Vellu said he had presented the appeals of the students to the cabinet.

"A lot of questions were raised before the cabinet agreed to recognise the 247 pre-med students who found themselves in a limbo following the MMC's sudden announcement," he told malaysiakini in a brief telephone interview.

"I submitted a paper on this to the cabinet which later accepted the explanation given by the health minister.

"My only concern was the fate of the students who would enter the first-year degree course next year."

Previously, these students were unsure as to whether their degrees would be recognised by the government.

At own risk

Samy Vellu, who is Works Minister, said the 1,061 undergraduates at CSMU will have no problems with their degrees upon returning to Malaysia.

As for the 140-160 Malaysian students registered to do the pre-med/foundation programme at CSMU, he said they will have to decide their next move since the MMC's ruling remains.

"Should they decide to go to CSMU, they will have to sit for a special (qualifying) examination conducted by the MMC upon graduation and return to Malaysia.

"New students who go for pre-med are going at their own risk but I ask parents to find other universities."

He cautioned parents to ensure that their children possessed the necessary entry qualifications.

"Don't ask for help when you get into trouble later because I will not fight for anyone who has inferior qualifications than what is required by universities," he stressed.

'It wasn't racial'

Samy Vellu also thanked Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, his deputy Najib Abdul Razak and Health Minister Dr Chua Soi Lek, who just returned from an overseas trip, for agreeing with his appeal.

About 10 days ago, Samy Vellu lashed out at the MMC for being racially biased against Indian Malaysian in arriving at such a decision, an allegation the council has since firmly denied .

About 70 percent of more than 1,000 Malaysians enrolled in CSMU are ethnic Indians.

Samy Vellu also denied that MMC's decision smacked of racial discrimination.

Asked on the about-turn, he said the details on the affected students showed a multi-racial composition.

"Earlier when I was told about this I thought that only Indian students were affected but I saw that there were others too," he said.

Besides the 590 Indian Malaysian students, he said there were over 230 Malays, 220 Chinese and about 20 others who were also affected.

CSMU has yet to respond to e-mailed queries from malaysiakini regarding the MMC's decision.