Students threaten stir

VADODARA, May 19: All the 1,100 graduate and post-graduate students of the Baroda Medical College threatened to go on an indefinite strike o...

VADODARA, May 19: All the 1,100 graduate and post-graduate students of the Baroda Medical College threatened to go on an indefinite strike on Tuesday if the State government did not reconsider its decision to transfer 12 of their senior teachers to the new medical colleges of Bhavnagar and Rajkot on the eve of visit by a Medical Council of India team.

A delegation of the Junior Doctors8217; Association called on college dean D N Shah this afternoon and apprised him of the students8217; resentment following the transfer orders the State government issued on Monday.

There are about 350 post-graduate students and another 800 MBBS students at Baroda Medical College. They have given the State government a week to revise its decision. A delegation will also be visiting Gandhinagar on Friday to discuss the issue with health department officials.

Association office-holder Dhaval Mehta told Express Newsline that students apprehended deterioration in educational standards in their college as some of its best teachers had been posted to Rajkot.

Though no teacher had been transferred here so far in their places, students were unlikely to get replacements of the same standard, he said, claiming that there were not too many senior teachers in the State.

Some of the JDA members alleged on the condition of anonymity that their institution was being given second-class treatment to please the political lobby of Bhavnagar and Rajkot. 8220;It is again an instance of dirty politics affecting education8221;, one of them said.

As per the State Government8217;s orders, P A Vohra radiology, A J Vaishnavi orthopedics, R S Tiwari ENT, A Leva DTCD, S R Baxi Obstetrics and Gyanecology, R K Baxi PSM, D R Jhala paedeatrics, M Galwala anaesthesia, R M Patel skin and VD, V R Shah forensic medicine, H B Sirajwala bio-chemistry and S B Saxena microbiology have been asked to report at their new postings immediately.

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Some of the transferred teachers, who did not want to be named, told Express Newsline that a few of them were considering resigning or going on long leave.

According to official sources, resentment was running high in other medical colleges from where a total of 42 senior teachers had been transferred to the Rajkot and Bhavnagar colleges. Twelve teachers each have been transferred from Vadodara, Ahmedabad and Surat while six had been shifted from Jamnagar.

It was learnt that the JDAs had also threatened to launch a State-wide agitation.