250 Chintpurni MBBS Medicos Accuse Management of Harassment, Vacate Hostels

Pathankot: Chintpurni Medical College and Hospital, Pathankot is once again facing controversy as the medical students at the institute have accused the management of continuous mental and physical harassment.

Around 250 medicos studying in the second and third year of the MBBS Course at the institute vacated their hostels after alleging that the college management had threatened them with dire consequences.

The argument took place between the management and the students on Wednesday night over infrastructural issues including erratic power supply. As per the students, the owner of the medical college, businessman Swaran Salaria, issued open threats to them and also physically misbehaved with the medicos, The Tribune has reported. 

Following this, around 170 students in the second and third years of the MBBS course in the medical college protested against the management on Friday. Finally, around 250 medicos left their hostels on Saturday morning in hired buses. The students, along with some of the parents, went to Faridkot to protest at the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS).

According to the students, they were allegedly attacked both verbally and physically. They claimed that they were attacked with shoes and stones by the chairman of the college who also slapped them leading to the launch of the protest.

Also Read: HC relief: NMC to now transfer MBBS students of Chintpurni Medical College to Other institutes

After the altercation with the college management on Wednesday, the frightened students decided not spending the night in the hostels on Thursday. Thereafter, the Pathankot district administration and the police made arrangements for them to stay at a local gurdwara. They again regrouped on Saturday and asked for security from the administration, citing the constant threats they were receiving, The Tribune has reported.

Meanwhile, A short video at night of the incident went viral on social media in which a senior functionary of the management could be heard shooing away and bullying the students. It also showed the students running away in a particular direction from the management.

The students also prepared video clips of management authorities intimating them and forwarded these clips to Pathankot DC Aditya Uppal and SSP Suhail Qasim Mir.

However, the Managing Director of the institute Sunaina Sambyal has claimed that it was the students who manhandled Salaria and it resulted in the dislocation of his shoulder. "He was attacked by the students on Wednesday night and his shoulder has been dislocated. We have lodged an FIR with the police. I agree there was an issue of erratic power supply," she told The Tribune.

SSP Suhail Qasim Mir has, however, denied that the college had lodged an FIR as was being claimed by MD Sunaina Sambyal. He told the Daily, "No FIR has been lodged. In fact, we have not even received a complaint from either the management or the students."

Letter to Deputy Commissioner: 

Raising the issues faced by them, the students also wrote a letter to the Deputy Commissioner of Pathankot. They claimed facing persistent water and voltage issues without any resolution despite numerous complaints. As per the letter, the situation escalated on the night of July 10, 2024, when students approached the management to discuss the voltage problems. The confrontation took a violent turn when the chairman allegedly drove rashly towards the students and started using verbal and physical abuse.

"Students were attacked badly with shoes and stones and also he started slapping. Students in fright started running which led to a pandemonium," stated the letter. 

The chaos intensified when the Managing Director (MD) separately visited the girls' and boys' hostels. "She also did character assassination of girls students. They also gave us academic threats. False allegations were put on the students for hitting the chairman. Our chairman was not in senses and overpowered with anger, came with security to the boys hostel. The Security accompanying the chairman threatened to put the students behind bars," stated the students in the letter. 

In addition to the harassment, the students outlined several pressing issues they have been enduring which include a scarce voltage load leading to flickering lights, coolers and fans not working properly due to which students can't sleep and study, Low water supply in the hostel, No practical work is done in college, Faculty deficiency and low patient load and No doctor available in emergency.

Further, the letter added, "He is threatening us of his power of being Vice President of AAP, Punjab. We filed the case last year due to a lack of academic faculties and continuous medical negligence occurring in hospital. We even won the case on 10 Jan, 2024 case no. CWP15650/2023. The case was taken forward to the High Court double bench CWP2061/2024. The decision has been put on hold for 6 months due to which we are facing continuous harassment from the college management."

The students have demanded strict actions against the college management, emphasizing their safety and well-being. They warned that if any harm comes to the students, legal authorities will be held responsible.

"We expect strict actions against the college management as we are feeling unsafe in our own campus. The safety of students is in your hands. If anything happens to students then the legal authorities will be responsible," it mentioned. 

High-Level Committee Formed: 

In response to the incident, the administration has set up a high-level committee to look into the allegations made by the students. In addition, the students have forwarded video clips of evidence of management functionaries intimidating them to Pathankot Deputy Commissioner Aditya Uppal and SSP Suhail Qasim Mir.

Earlier in January, this year, MBBS students from academic sessions 2021-22 and 2022-23 filed a petition to the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking transfer from the college after they alleged that the college failed to provide basic infrastructure facilities in terms of building, clinical material, and teaching faculty to impart the necessary education. As a result, the high court directed the National Medical Commission (NMC) and the Punjab Government to shift the students to any other recognized, affiliated and approved Medical College within the State of Punjab or to any other Medical College affiliated with Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS).

It is to be noted that the Medical Dialogues team reported in May 2023 that the National Medical Commission (NMC) debarred Chintpurni Medical College and Hospital from admitting fresh MBBS students for the academic year 2023-2024. The Apex Medical Commission took this decision after serious deficiencies in the medical college were found in respect of faculty, patient load, and infrastructure. Apart from referring to the deficiencies in the infrastructure of the medical college, it was also found that the medical college was overcharging students beyond prescribed fees.

Medical Dialogues had extensively reported about the controversial shutdown of Chintpurni Medical College after the Board of Governors of the erstwhile Medical Council of India (MCI) had found that the institute was admitting students without the MCI approval ever since its inception in 2011. In addition, the college did not have the necessary infrastructure and did not provide adequate facilities for the purpose of medical studies.

Consequently, the Executive Committee of MCI recommended debarring the College from admitting students for two academic years i.e. 2017-18 and 2018-19 and to encash the bank guarantee of Rs 2 crores that was furnished by the petitioner at the time of grant of recognition dated 26.09.2016. The Central Government had accepted the MCI recommendation.

Following this, the 2011-12 and 2014-15 batch of students were shifted to other medical colleges in the state on the directions of the Supreme Court after the students sought to transfer to other medical colleges in the state. The top court had also dismissed the plea challenging the Central Government orders and had stated that the college would be entitled to pursue the permission for the academic years 2019- 20 and 2020-21 after the period of the ban.

However, in 2022 NMC granted its permission to Chintpurni Medical College to admit students in 150 MBBS seats after inspecting the infrastructure of the medical college.

Also Read: Chintpurni Medical College debarred from admitting MBBS students this academic year