Panic-stricken medical students leave from colleges

Though no formal orders have been issued by the administrations of the medical colleges in Kashmir, hundreds of students, mostly from Jammu province have fled the colleges after Government issued advisory to tourists and Amarnath Yatris to return from Kashmir immediately.

A senior administrator in Government Medical CollegeSrinagar said that beginning Friday, a number of parents urged the authoritiesto declare vacations and allow their students to leave the station. However,when no such order was issued, many students put in leaves and left thestations, he said.

   

At SKIMS Medical College also, an official said, studentsbelonging to Jammu province had left for homes in the past two days. “Many ofour students are moving on Sunday. The advisory issued by Government urgingYatris and tourists to leave Kashmir had created a panic among students andtheir families. Although their career is at stake, but their parents fear fortheir safety due to these orders now,” he said.

He added that the “evacuation” of students ofNational Institute of Technology (NIT) had added “fuel to the fire”and even those students, who had stayed here during 2016 unrest in Kashmir hadpacked their bags.

Principal GMC Srinagar, Prof Parvaiz A Shah said that themedical college was “running as usual.” “We have exams going on andclasses are also in progress as normal,” he said. He however said that MBBSfirst year students, those who had joined beginning August had been allowed toleave. “We will be starting their classes after Eid,” he said. He assigned thereason of delay in starting of classes to apprehensions of parents and saidthat both students from Kashmir as well as Jammu had left for homes.

Director SKIMS Prof Omar Javed Shah said that “some studentsmight have left” on their own and denied issuing any order to call off classesor other academic work.

However, other sections of the medical colleges, includinghospitals were functioning as normal, hospital authorities said. Director SKIMSsaid that the hospital was on alert and ready as unusual. “Uncertain conditionshave been prevalent here for a long time and our health systems, especiallySKIMS, is well equipped to deal with any emergency,” he said. He said that somefaculty was on vacation and the Institute had no plans to curtail their time.”We have about 500 in-house residential doctors here allowing us to cater toany need,” he said.

Principal GMC Srinagar said that all hospitals under GMCSrinagar had a contingency plan. “We have a system in place and that systemincludes emergencies to be kept operational 24 x 7,” he said.

Director health services Kashmir Dr Kunzes Dolma said thatdoctors and other staff deployed for Amarnath Yatra health services had beenrecalled. She said that this workforce will augment the health institutions inperipheries. “We are not issuing any special instructions as health is itselfan emergency service by nature,” she said.

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