Medical college art fest to focus on anti-drug theme

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala University of Health Sciences vice-chancellor Dr M K C Nair has said that the issue of substance abuse among the medical students is serious and needs to be addressed urgently. The next edition of Inter-Medics, the arts festival for medical students, will feature events with the message ‘say no to drugs’.
Reacting to the TOI report published on Monday on a private medical college issuing a circular on urine analysis to check drug abuse among the students, the VC said, “It is a fact that each college management has to take up the responsibility to create awareness and launch campaign against drug abuse on the campuses”.

“We will direct all college managements to act strict against this menace and student community will also have a key role to play. Only students can prevent their counterparts from this. Hence the role of students’ organizations is key in this,” he said.

At the same time, he said, if urine analysis is being done on the students, it cannot be made mandatory and can be done only with the consent of the student. “It would be an infringement of the freedom of the student. Hence, it is better to have more practical approaches to curb the menace,” the VC said.

However, the management of Kolenchery medical college, which issued the circular, has clarified that “the screening would be conducted on students based on the written consent obtained from students as well as their parents.”

Realizing the growing influence of drugs among medical students, the next edition of Inter-Medics, which is scheduled to be held in Alappuzha in April, will focus on the ‘say no to drugs’ theme.

“We have decided to focus on anti-drug theme since it is a menacing trend among the medical students. We are planning flash mobs, awareness classes, shows and other activities to educate the ill-effects of the drug abuse,” said Dr Sebind Kumar, psychiatry department, Alappuzha medical college.