Punjab: Counselling discovers 60 missing GSMC students in the US

Faridkot: The Gian Sagar Medical College Counselling sessions on to shift students to other medical colleges of the state seems to have opened the pandora’s box on 60 missing MBBS students, who were to be part of this shift. The students , belonging to the 2008-09,2009-10 and 2010-11 have been discovered to be residing for the past many years in the US. They are assumed to have gone there in an effort to clear the United States Medical licensing Examination (USMLE), leaving their studies mid way. The revelation speaks volumes about the state of medical education in Punjab and the pathetic attendance system of the colleges of the state.

According to information revealed, while some of the missing 2008-09 batch are on leave for the past three years after having completed the third year at the college, there are quite a few missing students who did not join their one year mandatory internship program after completing their MBBS course.

The absence of the students would have gone unnoticed had the counselling not called for the student to be physically present for transfer to other medical colleges. These students had approached the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences for an inclusion in the list of students to be shifted.

The BFUHS officials who conducted the first round of counselling for the 2012-13 & 2013-14 batches, on Sunday ,were taken aback when contacted by the 2007-08 year batches for the shift.

“It is surprising that these students were absent for so many years from their institute for medical studies in foreign countries,” a senior varsity functionary told the Tribune.

“It speaks volumes about the standard of medical education in our colleges,” he said.

The Counselling conducted by the BFUHS officials on Sunday saw the shift of 189 MBBS students belonging to the 2012-13, 2013-14 batches of Gian Sagar to eight medical colleges, including three state owned institutions.

Though this number was meant to be 200, 11 did not show up for the counselling, leaving 3 NRI, 4 government and 4 management quota seats vacant.

Principals of all the 8 medical colleges to which the GSMC students were to be shifted were present at the venue.

Some of the shifting students demanded that they be moved under the NRI category as against the management quota that they had belonged to at Gian Sagar. They had earlier been taken on in the management quota seats as the NRI quota had been merged into it.

However, the university did not comply and they were shifted to less desirous medical colleges under the management quota.