Kerala Medical College forces students to vacate hostel owing to increasing COVID cases among medicos

The students' union of Kozhikode Government Medical College is up in arms against the college authorities for forcing them to vacate the college hostel at the earliest, after some of the hostellers tested COVID positive. Also, many of them have had first-degree contact. According to the union, a crisis situation prevails on the campus and hence going home at this point is inadvisable. Meanwhile, MCH principal M P Sasi told a meeting on Saturday that it was decided to conduct practical exams of the 62nd batch online. The students' union representatives stated that the situation is such that the number of cases among students is increasing daily, but nothing has been done to ensure the safety of medicos.

"The college authorities had taken several decisions without consulting the students' union. Our protest is against the MCH authorities who are imposing their unilateral decisions on students. Ordering students hailing from across the state to return home without even subjecting them to the the COVID test can be disastrous. Sending the final-year students home, when there is barely a fortnight left for the university exam, has put them under enormous pressure. Decisions which embarrass students will not be accepted until the concerns of students are fully addressed," said Arjun, students' union representative. The meeting convened by the principal decided that the dates of the practical exams to be conducted online will be informed later. The students of batches 60, 61 and 62 were asked to vacate the hostels with immediate effect. Since hospitals are filling up fast, medical care is going to be challenging if a large number of students test positive, said the principal. Parents of the students were asked to arrange transport. "We are forced to vacate the hostel just because the cases are increasing here. The services provided by the medicos for the past one year are not considered and when we are turning positive the college authorities are not supporting us," said a medico.