Out of the nearly 25,000 Indian students studying in China, about 90 per cent are medical students, according to the Indian embassy in China. India is also the fourth-largest source of international students for China.

Although evacuation flights from Wuhan carried 723 Indian students back to their home country during the outbreak, with about 80 per cent of those medical students, there is no data on how many Indian medical students in total returned from China.

Like Suhail, most students who returned to India after the pandemic broke out never thought they would be unable to go back to China.

In this, they share the same frustrations with other international students waiting to return. About 12,000 of them, from all over the world, have signed an online petition calling on China to open its borders to them, and they have also organised a social media campaign using the hashtag #TakeUsBackToChina.

Compared with students from other countries, Indian students face an even greater roadblock in returning to China because of the frayed relationship between the two countries. After clashes between Indian and Chinese troops in the Galwan valley near their Himalayan border, which left at least 20 Indian troops dead, India banned 267 Chinese apps in retaliation, including the popular messaging app WeChat, which is widely used by Indian students and teachers.

Suhail was able to maintain his WeChat account because it was registered under a Chinese mobile phone number, but some of his Indian classmates at Wuhan University could no longer use the platform, and in some cases could no longer stay in touch with their teachers or take online classes that were being offered through WeChat.

Following complaints from its Indian students, Wuhan University began to use DingTalk, the messaging app owned by Alibaba (which also owns the South China Morning Post), as well as Tencent’s Meeting to conduct online classes. Eventually, though, the Indian government shut down these apps too. Now, if they want to take online classes, Indian students must connect to the apps through a VPN to avoid detection by the Indian government.

Rahul Dwivedi from Varanasi, another medical student at Wuhan University who had to return home, is also worried about his ability to finish his degree given the impracticality of substituting the final year of what should be live laboratory training for online courses.

While he finished some of his medical theory classes online, and knows of some fellow students who did the internship online, Dwivedi is sceptical of taking the online route.

“As a [medical student] it’s not ideal to have practical classes online,” he said. “There‘s so much at stake later when we become doctors.”

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But he said he had no choice but to continue online if he wanted to graduate.

The time difference between the two countries is another concern for Indian medical students who are still taking online classes in China. While some classes are recorded and can be streamed anytime the students like, some of the classes are streamed live, and start as early as 5.30am India time.

One element of Suhail’s and Dwivedi’s journey has become easier during the coronavirus, though. Indian medical students who receive their degrees abroad are required to pass the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE) to practice in India. The test is normally taken in conjunction with their practical training in China (or other countries they are studying in), and the Indian medical students are free to begin practising at home once they have passed the exam.

Now, though, Indian medical students can take the FMGE exam first before embarking on practical training.

The FMGE is one of India’s toughest professional licensing exams, with an average pass rate of just 14.2 per cent. The pass rate for students who studied in China is even lower – it was 11.67 per cent between 2015 and 2018.

Suhail said he studies five or six hours each day to prepare for the test, but is unsure where he would be able to do his one-year practical training internship even if he were to pass, since getting placed in an internship programme in India is cumbersome, and the modules within the internships differ in length from the ones in China.

In addition, if he were to do his internship in India, he would need approval from Wuhan University.

In the meantime, his plans remain on hold. He did receive a notice from Wuhan University late last month saying China “will coordinate the return of foreign students back to China”, but only when it can assure them against the further spread of the coronavirus – meaning Suhail will keep waiting.

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For other students who were supposed to graduate from Chinese universities this year, their educational journeys could be at an end.

Hamsini Hariharan has been waiting at her home in Chennai for nearly a year to find out whether she will be able to finish her two-year programme in international relations at Peking University’s Yenching Academy.

But just a few days ago, she said, the university contacted her to tell her it was sending back her luggage and other belongings.

“I was supposed to have my graduation in July 2021, but the hope of returning to China before that is very minimal,” she said.