Hopes crushed by degrees of extortion in the Philippines

Indian medical students fleeced by agents, colleges

When 17-year old Anjali*, the daughter of a small shopkeeper in Gujarat, went to the Philippines in March 2015, she was fuelled by an education loan and dreams of becoming the first doctor in her family. When she returned home in January 2021, she had her hard-earned medical degree, but had also been robbed of $12,000 courtesy an unscrupulous agent, saddled with an additional loan, and put through six months of harassment and threats of losing her visa for fees she had already paid. Anjali (name changed on request) is one of the 15,000 Indian students who head to the Pacific island nation for a medical education every year, lured by easier admission criteria and lower fees than in India’s private medical colleges. But the promises soon turned sour for Anjali and several other Indian students.