Medicos ask for general promotion
In the wake of Covid-19, many states have announced general promotion in colleges - both in regular and technical. Students of medical colleges studying in courses like MBBS, BDS, BAMS, BHMS, BUMS, nursing, all paramedicals across the country have also raised their demand and are appealing to authorities for general promotion only during pandemic.
Some colleges have announced exam dates posing huge risk to the students' lives. The irony of the entire situation is that medical students are relatively “more prone to being infected”. They work in labs, hospital buildings and college buildings are in the same campus which can contaminate bigger area in case of any infection. Conducting exams can lead to creation of multiple corona hotspots that can get difficult to contain.
Speaking on the issue, Ravi Shankar Tiwari, Co-ordinator, IMA - Medical Student Network, said, "Why are we being ignored, our lives have no value? During the full course of five and a half years we have to qualify many exams, just one general promotion will not make us doctors automatically, it will just save us from mass infection."
Appealing to the government and medical authorities, one of the many medical students said on Twitter, "Govt has promoted all 1st year students even of technical institutions, I think they forgotten that there are MBBS students also ..I want to remind them that we are also there sir, please promote us also!"
The students have also launched their demand on social media with hashtags such as #promotemedicalstudents #cancelexamsincovid #cancelmedicalexams.
Some medical colleges in UP have announced resuming classes, for first and final year medical students, putting so many lives at risk. The Covid count in the country is more than 50,000 a day. Even the parents of these students are wary of the impending exams and want general promotion.
Aryabhatta Knowledge University (AKU) deferred the second professional 2019 and the third professional part-I 2019 (II) examinations in Bihar in view of coronavirus situation, this clearly shows their intention to not mass promote this year. The AKU deferred these examinations till further orders. The exams were earlier scheduled to commence from July 28. Whenever exams will be conducted, before this pandemic is over, it will still be risky. Health of the medicos will be at risk. One of the students said, "A large number of medical students are now at their native towns/villages, they will have to travel inter-state to take exams, take practicals in hospital on patients. Is it safe and justified?"
Keeping in view of the fact that in most of the places, hospital beds are full, so the hostels are being used as ‘quarantine centers’. A student said, "How do the colleges expect us to write exams in places like these? Aren’t we facing the same pandemic as every other person living in this situation?"
The medicos are left in the lurch, however, any decision to promote the medicos without conducting exams would have to be taken by the Medical Council of India (MCI).
