Chintpurni medical college students take their protest to Delhi
FARIDKOT:OVER a month after Punjab government withdrew the essentiality certificate from the Chintpurni Medical College, Pathankot, owned by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Swaran Salaria, on November 3, students are yet to be shifted to other government medical colleges as promised.
To take up the issue, over 90 students and their parents protested outside the headquarters of the Medical Council of India (MCI) in New Delhi on Monday, demanding early shifting of students to other colleges.
Members of their delegation also met officials of the health ministry, the MC and the oversight committee that the Supreme Court has formed in the case. The Punjab government says it has sent a proposal for approval to the MCI to shift all 249 students that took admission over various years. Sources said the Punjab government had also sent a reminder to the MCI.
WHAT IS THE ISSUE
The college started admissions in 2011, in spite of the fact that the medical education regulator, the Medical Council of India (MCI), did not grant it the mandatory approvals. The 2011 batch of 150 students had earlier moved the Punjab and Haryana high court and have since been shifted to other colleges, students of 2014 and 2016 batches face a bleak future. On April 26, 2016, these students moved the high court seeking to shift to other colleges in the state claiming that their institute is “short of infrastructure”
On September 8 this year, the Punjab and Haryana high court had directed the state government to shift all students of 2014 batch of Chintpurni Medical College to other medical colleges across the state within two months.
FILE IS NOW WITH THE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE Even as state government sources had claimed, in the first week of November, that the process of shifting of students would be completed within a fortnight, nothing has moved since. “After the essentiality certificate of the college was withdrawn, students have been sitting at home since November 1. Their pre-final exams are pending,” said Dr Sushil Garg, member of Parents Welfare Association of the college, formed to take up the students’ cause.
He added, “We want that the oversight committee must consider our case on priority and give its approval order to the state government and the MCI for early shifting of students.”
MCI secretary Dr Reena Nayyar said, “We considered the proposal of the Punjab government in our executive committee and sent it to the oversight committee. As soon as we receive comments from the oversight committee, the matter will be communicated to the health ministry.” Dr Sanjay Srivastav, secretary, oversight committee, said, “We have received the reports and will consider it in the coming days.”