NEW DELHI: The midnight crackdown of protesting MBBS students has drawn flak from the medical fraternity across the country. The resident doctors’ bodies and federations have denounced the alleged brutality of the Haryana Police on medical students while they were peacefully protesting against the state government bond policy for taking admission in government medical colleges.
The FORDA urged doctors across India to observe “black day” on Monday as a mark of condemnation to the alleged act by the state police. The students accused cops of using water cannons and man handling them during the protest.
“An unwarranted fee hike in the form of a despicable bond policy followed by police action on innocent doctors, who have given their best in all circumstances, shows the apathy and weak memory the government has. Such incidents will not only bring down the morale of doctors in the particular state but also the country in general,” said the federation.
It added, “As a show of solidarity and unity amongst our fellow colleagues and as a symbol of our denunciation for what has happened, we call for a nationwide observance of a black ribbon protest on the 7th of November, 2022.”
Dr Sarvesh Pandey, General Secretary, FORDA, said that majority of doctors from Centre-run and Delhi government hospitals including Safdarjung, RML, and Lok Nayak, will work wearing black ribbons during the day. “This is to show our support against the police brutality and to ensure such incidents don’t happen in future,” he said.
The bond policy that demanded a total of Rs 40 lakh bond money for the four-year medical courses with Rs 10 lakh per year was introduced this year.
Students to enter into bond-cum-loan agreement
The bond policy that demanded a total of Rs 40 lakh bond money for the four-year medical courses with Rs 10 lakh per year was introduced this year. However, after protest, state government announced that the students taking MBBS admission in government medical colleges will now only have to enter into a bond-cum-loan agreement of the amount with the college and the bank concerned.