50 MBBS students of debarred Glocal Medical College uncertain about their future
"We worked hard to clear NEET and now we don't even know if we will ever be able to become doctors," said one of the 50 students of the debarred Glocal Medical College in Saharanpur. For the last four years, these students are continuously asking for help and demanding to get transferred to another institution. The MBBS students filed a review petition last week against the Supreme Court's order which dismissed their admission regularisation demand.
"We belong to the middle-class community. For us, the most important thing is our career. Our family has spent everything in order to get us enrolled in a medical college. We have qualified for NEET-UG 2016 with good marks. Why such injustice? I have taken an education loan keeping my house on guarantee how am I suppose to pay that? If I am not allowed to continue and complete my curriculum after spending 4 years and paying a large amount of money. What am I supposed to do now?" another student said requesting anonymity.
The students told indiatvnews.com that they already have completed four years of their medical education.
"My father wanted me to become a doctor but I have lost him to corona. He was employed with Indian Railways and was a frontline corona warrior. My family and I were already battling the admission blotch but the death of my father has devastated me and my family. We students are suffering for no reason. Why our right is being unjustified. My family's mental and financial condition is very tough and this discrimination has left me in a position where my whole career is a question mark and I don't know how am I supposed to support my family. We should be given justice and the right to complete our curriculum," another student at Glocal Medical College said.
“My Clients are young MBBS Students, who duly qualified the NEET-UG-2016 Examination for admission into Medical Colleges, took admission into the captioned Glocal Medical College, Saharanpur (UP) in a bonafide manner, paid about Rs.30 Lakh each towards academic fees and other expenses by taking loans and most importantly, devoted about 4 prime years of their life for the said course," said Alakh Alok Srivastava, counsel for the students.
"However, today the Petitioners are utterly devastated and distressed as their said 4 prime years of life, lakhs of hard-earned money, hopes and dreams have been completely shattered and they have been thrown out of the said Medical College for the reasons, not attributable to them. We are requesting the Court to grant lateral entry of the petitioners to any other recognized and approved Medical College of India, so that they may complete their MBBS Course on time and save their precious 4 years as well as lakhs of hard-earned money," he added.
Timeline of the case
- These NEET-qualified students took admission in the newly-established Glocal Medical College in 2016 via two ways: 24 students took admission through the DGME Counselling session and 50 students took admission through the college Mop-up round on October 7, 2016.
- On 27 January 2017, the Medical Council of India (MCI) discharged the admission of students admitted through college Mop-up round. According to the students, the administration of the college didn't inform them about this order and also took the course fees i.e. over 30 lacs from each student to date.
- Meanwhile, other colleges like Venkateshwar Medical College, Saraswati Medical College, and Krishna Mohan Medical College had filed a petition challenging the MCI order in the same year at Lucknow High Court.
- On June 15, 2017, the court quashed the discharge letter and gave the judgment in students’ favor allowing them to continue their studies in their respective colleges. The MCI challenged the judgment in the Supreme Court but the court didn't interfere with the High Court's decision and the students in those three colleges are continuing their studies to date.
- The students of Glocal Medical College started noticing discrepancies in the way the college and hospital were functioning and they were not happy with faculties and facilities are given to them. The students told Indiatvnews.com that they wrote a letter to UPDGME demanding their transfer to other medical colleges but they didn't receive any response.
- On 28 May 2019, these students filed a petition in Allahabad High Court and the MCI informed in the court that the admission of these students has been discharged as per the 2017 order.
- After the students' petition, the MCI official inspected the college and it was shut down earlier this year for flouting guidelines.
- These 50 students are now stuck in the crossfire as the debarred college cannot give them a medical degree and they will not be able to practice medicine. The students told indiatvnews.com that after they found out about the MCI order they filed a fresh case at the Allahabad high court challenging this order.
- The court then allowed them to approach the Supreme Court but the judges, on July 20, 2020, dismissed the Pending case of college in which the students were tagged and thereby not got a chance to get their plea heard.
- Meanwhile, the 24 students who were admitted through UPDGME counseling, were transferred on January 3, 2020. These 50 students who were not transferred are knocking doors of various authorities but haven't received any help so far.
Fear and uncertainty among the students
"Our financial and mental condition is destroyed. Save the career of 50 medical students of the Glocal medical college. Save our parents' hard work. Is working hard and scoring in NEET is easy? Is spending 4 years and now standing nowhere is acceptable?" another student said.
"My AIR in NEET-UG is 38769. My batchmates have a rank of AIR 41142 AIR 42711 and so on. Yet even though after scoring such high marks we are going through this. Have you ever heard of such injustice? Where AIR 414761 is transferred and allowed to study but we are being unjustified. We hold merit yet we are facing difficulties. This isn't fair with 50 of us!" a student said.
