PG students refuse Covid work at Victoria Hospital

Postgraduate students at the Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute (BMCRI) have struck Covid work, putting 10 faculty members and 22 senior residents in charge of the 160 Covid patients at the Trauma Care Centre on the Victoria Hospital campus.

The students say they will only do non-Covid work.

In an official memorandum sent to students and staff members on March 22, BMCRI Dean Dr C R Jayanthi posted 32 faculty members and students for Covid duties until March 28.

The doctors have been pooled from dermatology, general medicine, general surgery, ophthalmology, anaesthesia, orthopaedics, paediatric surgery, pulmonary medicine, psychology, emergency medicine and ENT departments.

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“The doctors posted are strictly instructed to attend all patients in the Covid wards during their duty hours and not restrict themselves to their specialties alone,” the memorandum reads.

Dr Dayanand Sagar, president, Karnataka Association for Resident Doctors, said postgraduate students were doing exclusive non-Covid work as per an agreement reached with the college.

He said that around 60 postgraduate students were deployed for Covid duties per week. During the peak of Cov id, around 150 were posted per week, he added.

A faculty member posted for Covid duty said they had to attend to non-Covid patients, too.

“Doctors have surgeries to do that can’t be entrusted to students. We don’t even have quarantine facilities. After finishing Covid duties, we directly go home to our children and elderly. This exposes them.”

Asked about the lack of quarantine facilities, Dr Jayanthi said doctors all over India were working like that. They have PPE, but quarantine is not required. In some places, doctors are even working without PPE,” she added.