Stuck in strife, PG medical students chip in as hospital faculty, treat violence-hit

Guwahati: Medical students have scripted a heart-warming tale of care and comparison in Churachandpur, the heart of Manipur’s ethnic flare-up.

Unable to go back to Imphal to continue postgraduate studies at the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) there, its students from Churachandpur — the state’s largest district — are chipping as faculty to teach juniors in the new Churachandpur Medical College (CMC) and treating the riot-affected in government hospitals.

Though the resumption of classes in the state’s medical colleges on June 19 following an National Medical Commission (NMC) directive eased a bit of the uncertainty, the dearth of teaching staff continued to haunt CMC, the first medical college of the hill districts.

CMC’s faculty strength has fallen to 20 from about 50 earlier. Some of its members had to be deputed at the district hospital because of the increased patient flow following the ethnic clashes.

Many escaped to Imphal along with the students, who hailed from the Valley, compelling the CMC to tweak the faculty member criteria.

One of them is final-year PG student Priscilla Chingbiakhoih from RIMS (Imphal). “I was under mandatory rural posting in Senapati district hospital when clashes broke out and could not return to RIMS. At the request of CMC management, I am now teaching MBBS students in CMC,” Priscilla, who is teaching anatomy, said.

A PG degree is the minimum qualification required to teach MBBS, but the deputy director of CMC, Ginmuan Ngaihte, said rules had to be bent to make classes possible. CMC’s current 27 MBBS students include the institute’s first batch as well as those who fled other medical colleges in Imphal. CMC does not have PG courses.

Thanglal, a postgraduate student of RIMS (Imphal) in orthopaedics, is serving the district hospital in Churachandpur as the government has not been able to provide an alternative to study outside Imphal. “It is frustrating to be stuck like this. Though we are worried about our future, we are still serving people,” he said.

Ginsuanthang Suantak, a PG student of anaesthesia at RIMS (Imphal) said: “A lot of patients with injuries and pregnancy-related issues are coming to the district hospital from the relief camps in Churachandpur. I am happy to fill in for doctors, but am also concerned about my own future,” he said.

Earlier this month, RIMS (Imphal) sent an SOS to the Union health ministry to facilitate the admissions of 29 students (from the hill districts) in UG and PG classes in Meghalaya and Assam as the situation was not conducive for them to return to physical classes.