Patna: Medical students in Bihar are protesting after they were asked by a medical college to undergo HIV tests before taking admission in MBBS course.
The peculiar directive has been issued by the Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) which is considered the best medical institute in the whole of Bihar state. The admission in MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery) starts today (July 30).
Several students complained they had been asked to undergo a medical fitness test, including HIV tests, before taking a final admission in the said medical college, adding they were wondering why such order was issued to them.
Short of any option, though, the students are now making rounds of the clinical pathology departments to undergo the HIV test and submit a certificate to the college as proof of their physical fitness.
“This is the directive which every medical student has to follow as a pre-condition for getting them admitted to the MBBS course”, said the PMCH principal Dr NP Yadav adding such things were nothing new.
However, the doctor community is protesting against such order describing it as arbitrary one. “The HIV test must not be made mandatory for admission in MBBS course, and if this is the rule, then this must be applied to every medical college”, said Dr Arun Kumar Thakur, Bihar unit head of the Indian Medical Association.
Another doctor and the assistant pathologist at the Clinical Pathology Department at the PMCH, Dr Devendra Prasad, too opposed such an order saying the HIV test must not be made mandatory. On Saturday, a student came to his department and began requesting an HIV test saying this has been made mandatory. “This is totally unfair,” he remarked.
