Provisions of disaster Act 'ignored': Gujarat MBBS students on Corona sahayak duty

By A Representative

More than 100 MBBS Part-I and Part-II students of the NHL Medical College and the LG Hospital and Medical College, which are run by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC), in response to a show cause notice, have said that no provisions of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, have been attracted while requisitioning their services for Covid-19 care.
Citing the government resolution (GR) dated July 17, 2020 and the Epidemic Disease Act, 1897, in reply to the notice, said, they said, they have already wasted precious four months between March 2020 and July 2020 and were deprived of clinical and theoretical education since the colleges were closed down due to the lockdown.
One of the replies by a student alleged that out of 22 medical colleges in Gujarat, the order for compulsory, and not voluntary, duty of working as Corona Sahayaks has been issued with regard students of only two medical colleges, both run by AMC, which is “gross discrimination” and “unpardonable.”Now, when only four to six months are left for the university examinations, the students cannot be and should not be called to perform duty as Corona sahayak (helper), it added.
The show cause notice dated July 29, 2020, issued to the third year final MBBS Part-I and Part-II students of the two AMC-run colleges, has alleged non-cooperation in allotted duties and training under the Covid-19 pandemic.
The notice said that if students failed to join the duty, then appropriate proceedings would be initiated under the provisions of the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 and Ordinance and Regulations, 2020 as well as the Disaster Management Act, 2005, asking them why appropriate proceedings should not be initiated for their committing breach/willful defiance of the instructions issued by the authorities.

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