An order from the Belagavi Institute of Medical Sciences, asking all medical students to vacate the hostel due to rising number of COVID-19 infections on the campus, has been criticised.
Warden of the Sushruta hostel issued an order to students asking them to vacate the hostel immediately. The order, issued on Thursday, said: “One of the postgraduate students has tested positive. All inmates have to vacate the hostel with immediate effect till further orders. This is to prevent the spread of the disease to others. The inmates have to make their own arrangements’’.
Members of the Karnataka resident doctors association sent a letter to the government criticising the sudden order and the lack of alternative arrangements for them.
“The hostel wardens have asked us to vacate without any prior notice. Where shall we go if asked to leave immediately? When a resident doctor tests positive, it is the responsibility of the institute to take care of him or her. The institute should handle the situation properly. It cannot ask us to make our own arrangements. The institute knows how to get the hospital work done by resident doctors. But it does not care for us. It is a sad state of affairs,” said a member of the association. Some members of the association shared a copy of the hotel warden’s order on social media handles.
Deputy Commissioner M.G. Hiremath said he would discuss the issue with the BIMS director Vinay Dastikop and other authorities. “We will surely help the junior doctors and students and find a solutions to their problems. We will consider their demand of providing them an alternative place to stay,’’ he said.