MBBS students sent on 10-day ‘forced’ holiday

Balwant Garg

Tribune News Service

Faridkot, September 12

To prevent the ragging of fresh 175 MBBS students in Guru Gobind Singh Medical College (GGSMC) here, the authorities have sent all senior (2nd to final year) MBBS students on ‘forced’ holiday for 10 days.

As classes for the freshers started on September 9, the senior students had been sent on ‘holidays’ till September 19.

Of the 175 MBBS students, 50 students belong to the AIIMS, Bathinda, who have their transit camp in Faridkot till the completion of the AIIMS building.

The college authorities have asked the senior students to go to their houses and not stay at the hostel here during the 10-day period. As ragging takes place mostly in hostels after classes are over in the college, so the senior students are not allowed to stay in the hostel during this period, said a senior functionary in the medical college. During the ‘forced’ holiday period, the interns among the senior students are allowed to stay and do their job in the medical college and hospital.

The step has been taken as per the directions of the Union Health Ministry and as per the Prevention and Prohibition of Ragging in Medical Colleges/Institutions Regulations, said Dr Raj Bahadur, Vice-Chancellor, Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS). GGSMC is a constituent college of BFUHS.

On the arrival of senior students after the holidays, further orientation programmes would be conducted in the medical college for sensitization and counselling of both freshers and seniors. There would be organised cultural, sports and other activities to provide a platform to the freshers and the seniors to interact in the presence of faculty members, said the VC.

As per the Prevention and Prohibition of Ragging in Medical Colleges/Institutions Regulations, the freshers would be lodged in a separate hostel block. As this facility was not possible, so they were to ensure that seniors’ access to freshers’ accommodation was strictly monitored by wardens, security guards and college staff, said a senior functionary of GGSMC.

As college canteens and hostel messes are the places where ragging often takes place, a round-the-clock vigil on ragging in the hostel premises would be provided. The employers and employees of the canteens/mess had been given instructions to keep a strict vigil and report the incidents of ragging to the college authorities if any, he said.

As per the regulations, the freshers who do not report the incidents of ragging either as victims or as witnesses will also be punished.