DC orders magisterial probe

According to sources, the Rajindra Hospital authorities again convened a meeting of parents of the nursing students on July 19 to review the progress into the inquiry against the nursing school principal and steps taken for reinforcing security measures at the nursing students8217; hostel.

Hectic activity was witnessed in the Government Medical College and the nursing students hostel yesterday. A large number of parents of the nursing students accompanied their wards to the hostel. They held a rally in the compounds of the nursing school which was also attended by members of the Punjab Nurses Association.

The parents and the students discussed the problems faced by the hostel inmates, especially in view of the June 10 incident when an intruder alleged to have made a futile bid to enter a room in the hostel.

Later, the principal of the medical college, the Medical Superintendent, principal of the school of nursing, the principal tutor also attended a meeting of the nursing students and their parents wherein the problems of the hostel inmates, including poor security measures, were discussed in detail.

The nursing students have sent a memorandum to the Director of Research and Medical Education levelling serious charges of financial irregularities and autocratic working against the principal of the school of nursing. They have demanded that she be shifted from the school immediately. They have alleged that the principal had been turning a blind eye to the problems of the nursing students. About two months back, a boy had entered into a room in the hostel and instead of taking action against the chowkidar on duty, the principal had thrown the student out of the hostel, the memorandum said.

Parents of the nursing students, in a separate memorandum to the principal of the medical college, have demanded suspension and suitable action against the nursing principal, hostel warden and the chowkidar responsible for June 10 incident.

They also demanded registration of a police case in connection with the incident and identification and arrest of the culprits involved in the June 10 incident.Meanwhile, contradictory versions were put out by the nursing students and the principal of the medical college about the incident.While the students alleged that an intruder sneaked into the hostel on June 10, the principal, Dr Ravinderpal Kaur , maintained that preliminary investigations by the medical superintendent and the police had revealed that no tresspasser had been seen by anyone, including the nursing students, staff nurses, chowkidars, or by any hospital employee. She claimed that it was not possible for any tresspasser to enter the hostel as there was single entry point in the hostel and on the day of the incident, the lock of the gate was intact. The pricipal of the medical college, who chaired the meeting of the hospital top brass, including parents of the nursing students, said after the meeting that grills would be fixedwithin 15 days in the rooms of the nursing hostels and the floodlight would be made functional by this evening.

She claimed that all other problems of the nursing students would be sorted out and that the police patrolling around the hostel had further been intensified. She said the parents of the students were satisfied with the safety measures initiated by the hospital authorities.