Distraught students of Jhajjar medical college now pinning their hopes on Vij
THE INSTITUTE WAS DISAFFILIATED IN 2016, FORCING STUDENTS TO RESORT TO AGITATION; HEALTH MINISTER SAYS HE HAS WRITTEN TO MCI TO SHIFT THE STUDENTS TO OTHER COLLEGES
CHANDIGARH: Uncertainty is looming over the future of 150 students of World College of Medical Sciences and Research, a private institute in Jhajjar, ever since the college’s affiliation with Pandit Bhagwat Dayal Sharma University of Health Sciences, Rohtak, was cancelled by the Medical Council of India (MCI) in 2016 because of its poor infrastructure and inadequate faculty.
The protesting students had two days ago lifted their dharna after three months on the assurance given by health minister Anil Vij that they would be shifted to other colleges.
Another reason cited for the withdrawal of the stir is said to be the deteriorating health of many students due to plummeting mercury.
However, Anivash Yadav, who heads the medical education cell of the Congress’ students wing, the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), Haryana, and had lent support to the protesting students, said they (students) would return to the agitation if no concrete action is taken by the government within a month.
With the private college failing to get affiliation from MCI till date due to its inability to address inadequacies, the students, who continued their education with the available resources, had sat on a dharna outside the college more than three months ago.
They alleged that neither did the college have infrastructure nor teachers. They claimed that the college lost its affiliation after they informed the MCI’S visiting team that the patients and doctors “shown” during the time of inspections were “fake and arranged”.
The students, who continued to study without any outpatient department (OPD) at the medical college, had said all their efforts were of no use in future before launching the stir.
The students and their parents, who have paid an annual fees of ₹9 lakh, had in the past staged protests in Delhi as well, but to no avail.
They are now pinning their hopes on minister Vij, who said he has written to MCI to shift the students to other college and was expecting receive a positive reply in a week.
“I am sure that the Medical Council of India would take the students’ plight into consideration and we would be able to shift them within a week’s time,” Vij said.
It may be recalled that nearly 400 students of a private medical college, Gold Field Institute of Medical Sciences and Research in Faridabad, who had faced a similar plight about three years ago, were also shifted to other colleges later.