Following the suicide of a student in Telangana due to alleged harassment by a senior, the Andhra Pradesh government has directed officials to deal with ragging in medical colleges with a iron hand. Aimed at eliminating harassment, state Health Minister Vidadala Rajini said all medical colleges in the state should be alert to this menace, in a review meeting attended by all the principals of government and private medical colleges, as stated in a report by PTI.
In an official statement on Tuesday, February 28, Rajini said, "Harassment in any form should not be exerted on medicos anywhere. Anti-ragging committees must function full-fledged and actively in colleges," she added.
Directions to officials
Further, in the light of any ragging incidents arising, the minister instructed that the director of medical education (DME) and health university vice-chancellor must directly monitor those incidents, adding that regular updates should be received from college anti-ragging committees, as stated in a report by PTI.
In this context, she said, "Teaching staff must behave in a congenial manner towards students." Some senior professors are exerting undue pressure on postgraduate students due to their own parallel clinic businesses, she observed and highlighted that these kinds of side businesses must end.
Measures to be taken
Apart from offering quality education, Rajini emphasised the importance of security and called for stringent measures to safely bring medicos into society. Moreover, she instructed all colleges to set up counselling sessions for students, including arranging yoga and meditation to beat pressure.
Similarly, the minister noted that colleges should fix complaint boxes as well as install a public address system to quickly send any message, along with a surveillance system. "Every female student should use the Disha app. The accommodation has to be separate for seniors and juniors with different dining schedules, ensuring they don't have the same meal time," she said. Further, she ordered officials to make sure that no medical college in the southern state registered a ragging complaint.
Recently, Dr Preethi, a 26-year-old medical student from a Warangal medical college ended her life, unable to bear alleged harassment from seniors. Besides private medical colleges, AP runs 18 government medical colleges, which also include a couple of dental colleges.
