Patiala Government Medical College suspends 366 MBBS students for skipping Covid safety sessions

The aspiring doctors won’t be able to attend classes and appear in internal assessment before the final examination till further orders

The Government Medical College (GMC), Patiala, has suspended 366 MBBS final-year students for not attending two important sessions on the implementation of Covid-19 safety measures on the campus.

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Now, these aspiring doctors will not be able to attend classes and appear in “send-ups”, the tests that take place every year for internal assessment a month before the final examination, till further orders.

There are 225 students each in the part I and II of MBBS final year. Of these, only 67 students from part I and 17 from part II had appeared in the two back-to-back sessions that were organised by college principal Dr Rajan Singla on Monday evening to keep the virus at bay on the campus.

The decision to call the sessions was taken after several students at medical colleges in Punjab, including three at GMC, Patiala, tested positive for the coronavirus.

In an order, Dr Singla said in view of the pandemic, meetings were organised for the 2016 and 2017 batches of MBBS students in the auditorium hall of the college. “Those who remained absent from the meetings have been suspended from attending classes and the send-up till further orders,” it read.

“All students have been informed about the guidelines. I wanted to address them to tell them about the seriousness of these guidelines. Around 40 students of a medical college in Amritsar have been tested positive for the virus and their hostels were vacated. I do not want this to happen to our students,” Dr Singla said.