M F AHMAD
Daltonganj, July 16: A 40-seater bus will start ferrying MBBS students of the Medinirai medical college Pokhraha to the Daltonganj-based Medinirai Medical College Hospital from July 18.
The bus was long overdue as the medical college management was struggling to have it since 2019 when this college had started imparting teaching.
Since the medical college is at Pokhraha and the hospital attached to it is in Daltonganj, a distance of 7 km. Hence, it is not officially called ‘medical college and hospital’ rather it is called medical college hospital only.
The principal of the Medinirai medical college at Pokhraha Dr Shailendra Kumar said, “Our college has reached an agreement with a local transporter and a work order has also been agreed upon between the medical college and the transporter. As per the agreement, the medical college will pay Rs 70,000 per month as the rent of the bus.”
Again for every kilometre of ferrying of MBBS students, the medical college will pay Rs 23 to the bus owner.
“We have notified our nodal officer in Dr Atul Prakash who will be the authority to ask our one person to keep track of km that this bus will cover every day and its due entry in the log book. The bus owner has been told that payment of monthly rent and payment for km covered every day will be made on the availability of the allotment/fund,” said Dr Shailendra Kumar.
The MBBS students need to reach the medical college hospital in Daltonganj every day and have to spend three hours there beginning at 10 am.
On being asked that the bus is 40-seater only while there are 92 students in the session 2019-20 who are now in the third year and 100 students in the first year of the session 2021-22 then how the bus will cope with the crowd of the students to which Dr Shailendra Kumar said ” We have made suitable batches of our students and this will not be any congestive for any trip of the bus. There will be more trips.”
Notably, the National Medical Commission has mandated a one-year clinical class for MBBS students in hospitals attached to the medical college. Every MBBS student has to have his clinical class in the hospital.
“Our students will also be visiting the government health centre located in the rural areas. As for now, our students will be visiting for learning at the community health centre Chainpur,” the principal said.
There are only 8 national holidays when medical colleges remain shut but even on such holidays if there is any expediency then MBBS students can have their work in the hospital.
Similarly, the National Medical Commission has curbed summer vacation reducing the entire stretch of its nearly two months in the past to a mere 7 days now only.
