Demanding that the existing non-COVID-19 beds should not be converted into COVID-19 beds again in the wake of a second wave as it will hit the academic year again, nearly 700 post-graduate students from Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute (BMCRI) stopped attending to COVID-19 duties from Monday.
In a memorandum to the Chief Secretary and other top BMCRI authorities, members of BMCRI Resident Doctors Association urged that the government should make alternative arrangements for managing COVID-19 patients so that the post-graduates can concentrate exclusively for non-COVID-19 patient care.
“This will help the non-COVID-19 patients and as well as the post graduate and under graduate students. This will also ensure the continuity of medical education in a teaching hospital. We also suggest using of non-teaching government hospitals for COVID-19 care and recruitment of non-academic junior residents/duty doctors for managing the same,” according to the contents of the memorandum.
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Dayanand Sagar, president of Karnataka Association of Resident Doctors (KARD), said the post-graduates of BMCRI are worried they will lose one more year of their academic career if they are made to continue with COVID-19 work.
“With no non-COVID-19 work, we are worried we will come out of the institute as incompetent doctors. We are willing to do any amount of non-COVID-19 duties under our respective departments where learning is possible and skills can be enhanced. With every passing day, we are losing valuable time for acquiring clinical skills,” he said.
“Since the beginning of March 2020, the post-graduates of BMCRI have dedicated their entire year towards COVID-19 care. This has resulted in a huge loss in our academics and skills for the sake of which we choose to do post-graduation in BMCRI. No other medical college student in Karnataka was hit as badly as us due to COVID-19,” he said.
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The post-graduate students conducted a walkathon within the institute on Monday.