In nearly a month, 28 MBBS students have tested positive for Covid-19 from two colleges in Ahmedabad. The Gujarat High Court in August had made it compulsory for all MBBS students to report for Covid-19 duty in the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation-run medical colleges.

In the two colleges — NHL Municipal Medical College and AMC-MET college — a total of 13 and 15 students respectively tested positive in the past month, since most joined duty on August 24. A student from NHL Municipal Medical College said that students were broadly given the responsibilities of conducting antigen tests and checking on home isolated patients via Sanjivani vans.

The student said, “We report at the urban health centre which then allots us the residential societies or the sites where we have to conduct testing. For immunocompromised students, they are assigned desk jobs… Till a week ago, we did not have rotational duty or any off days, but since a week, we are being given one off day.”

In Surat, five students tested positive in the past one month — two from Government Medical College and three from SMIMER.

Rajkot’s PDU government medical college dean on Thursday issued an office order directing final year Part 1 and 2 MBBS students to attend the training programme scheduled for them before they can be put on duty as ‘Covid assistants’.

The order, which came after a meeting with the principal health secretary Jayanti Ravi, stated, “…it has become necessary that all medical students contribute in their capacity…” The office order clarified that students are requested to volunteer and training will be held over three days based on their present locations.

Interns at Government Medical College in Bhavnagar have been on strike since the past four days, demanding higher stipend, study leaves for NEET exams, and that their Covid duty is counted as days under medical bond days.

Bhavnagar collector Gaurang Makwana said that while there have been no impact on the health services, he condemned the timing of such a strike.

The medical college’s dean, Dr Hemantkumar Mehta, said, “We have forwarded the demands of140 interns to the Gujarat government as any decision does not fall under our jurisdiction.”

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