SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, Oct 19: After four years, the students of Phulo Jhano Medical College Hospital, Dumka will get a bus service for hospital ward teaching and National Medical Commission (NMC) academic programme.
Since Dumka Sadar hospital is around 7 km away from the Dighi-based medical college building, the MBBS students of the institution face major commuting problems including financial burden in attending ward teaching (bed teaching) at the hospital daily. The college is in a remote area and the Sadar hospital is in the city.
Principal Dr Arun Kumar Choudhary while taking cognisance of students’ problems, initiated steps for hiring a 52-seater bus and issued a tender for it. “If all goes as per plan, then within a month, the bus service would be available for the MBBS students,” he said.
Dumka, Palamu and Hazaribag medical colleges, which were started in 2019, don’t have their own hospital and were attached to the Sadar hospitals of the concerned districts. Since Sadar hospital is far away from the medical colleges of all trio institutions, students have to incur heavy amounts for attending ward teaching.
A senior professor said that the students have to attend ward teaching classes for three hours (9 am to 12 noon) daily from the very 1st MBBS professional classes. In ward teaching, students are taught how to behave with patients and basic treatment like saline administration and others from the first and 2nd profession. Besides this, in the lack of bus service in college, students also face hardship in attending the village tour curricula of the NMC.
Palamu and Hazaribag medical colleges have also initiated steps for hiring buses for their students. Sources said that last year, the state government had allotted Rs 24 lakh to Dumka medical college for purchasing a bus but the then authorities did not buy it due to technical reasons. The sources said there were no sanctioned posts of driver and cleaner for the bus. Moreover, college authorities were clueless about the salary payment of bus drivers, cleaner and diesel charges.
“Hospital building of the college is under construction and the chief minister has directed to complete it by March 2023. So all problems of the students will be solved soon. For the time being, the college is hiring a bus after duly informing the department,” said principal Dr Arun Kumar Choudhary, who took charge last month.
