CHENNAI: The postgraduate students of the Madras Medical College (MMC) are opposing the relocation of the hostel premises from near the college to Triplicane.
The students say that it will be against the norms of the Medical Council of India and will hamper the discharge of duty.
There are no rooms for doctors to take breaks during the work and practice hours and relocating the hostel will add to the inconvenience of the students.
"We have several emergency cases to attend to and with hostels nearby, it is easier to come to the hospital at the earliest. However, if the hostel is far away from the hospital, it will not only affect the students but also impact the patient's care at the medical college hospital, " said J Vignesh, a postgraduate general medicine student from Madras Medical College.
The students also highlighted that the relocation would also be against the norms of the Medical Council of India as the regulations mandate the location of hostel premises within 2 km of the medical college campus.
"The accreditation of medical colleges involves the location of the hostel as a norm as per the Medical Council of India. The relocation would lead to the cancellation of the recognition as a medical college. We oppose the relocation of the medical college as it will make our schedules even more hectic," said Karthik B, another postgraduate student from Madras Medical College.
The doctor's associations say that earlier, the current hostel premises were used to accommodate undergraduate students, and then it was changed to postgraduate students hostel. However, they say that the change of hostel premises several times will disturb them.
"The students have to adapt to different settings every time the accommodation premises are changed. There has been a lot of change of infrastructure since the medical college was opened and we have to make the changes for accommodation accordingly to ensure that students do not have to travel long distances to come for work," said Dr G R Ravindranath, secretary of Doctor's Association for Social Equality.