Faridkot, June 13: The mystery over 60 “missing” MBBS students was unravelled during counselling to shift students of the Banur-based Gian Sagar Medical College on Monday.
The students of 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11 batches are apparently residing in the US for the past many years without clearing their MBBS course in Punjab. Ditching their studies midway here, these long absentee medical students are preparing for the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE).
While some from the 2008-2009 batch are on ‘leave’ for the past over three years after completing the third year at the college, many did not join their one-year mandatory internship programme after completing their four-and-a-half-year MBBS theoretical course.
This would have gone unnoticed but for the fact that physical presence of all MBBS students was compulsory for transferring to other medical colleges, these students too approached Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS) for including their names among the list of candidates to be shifted.
During the first round of counselling to shift 200 students of the 2012-13 and 2013-14 batches today, the BFUHS authorities were astonished when many students of 2007-2008 year batches also approached them. “It is surprising that these students were absent for so many years from their institute for medical studies in foreign countries,” said a senior varsity functionary.
“It speaks volumes about the standard of medical education in our colleges,” he said.In the first round of counselling, the BFUHS today shifted 189 MBBS students of 2012-13, 2013-14 batches of Gian Sagar to eight medical colleges, including three government colleges in the state.While 200 students were to be shifted but as 11 students did not appear in the counselling, so four seats of government quota, four seats of management quota and three seats of NRI quota remained vacant today.
The principals of all eight medical colleges were present during this physical counseling of Gian Sagar medical college’s students for their shifting. Laying their claim over the NRI quota seats in some reputed medical colleges in the state, some students demanded the university to adjust them against NRI quota seats against their management quota seats in Gian Sagar.
Earlier, these students had taken admission on management quota seats when the vacant NRI quota seats were merged into management quota seats. But the university denied the choice of the students and shifted them to ‘not much desirous’ medical colleges under the management quota.
Source: Tribune
