Osmania Medical College receives backlash over upcoming Convocation amidst Covid Second Wave

The convocation scheduled to be held on April 3, 2021, has been arranged for the 2015 batch students of the medical college. Not only, 1,200 people including the parents and faculty are expected to come to the event, but also the juniors are planning some pre-event activities under the name of 'Decibel'.

However, the observers have started questioning such a move by the Institute amidst the rising numbers of Covid-19 cases in the country. As per them, the Institute is taking advantage of the exemptions granted to the medical institutions in the State, especially when all the other educational institutions have been closed due to the second wave of Covid-19. Clearly, people are shocked by the permission given to the institute by the Director of Medical Education.

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As per the latest media report by The Hans India, a section of parents is not so happy with this move as well. Questioning the importance of convocation amid the rising number of Covid-19 cases, K Prasad, father of a medico K Krishna informed the daily, "Medicos and interns get exposed to patients and around 1,200 congregating at one place causes concern of spread."

In fact, a section of junior doctors as well have questioned the decision. One such junior doctor Vamshi told the daily, "It is a thoughtless move to permit the Convocation of such a large gathering even as the government is going about strictly enforcing Covid norms and even shut educational institutes."

The Hans India reports that the principal Shashikala Reddy initially rejected the sports meet and other such pre-event activities. However, she gave her nod following the permission by DME. Assuring that the convocation would be held maintaining all the Covid norms, she further informed the daily that the pre-event activities have also been made shorter to 3 days instead of the general practice of week-long celebrations.

Meanwhile, the Junior doctors' Association (JUDA) has tried to assure about the matter mentioning that all the students have been properly vaccinated. Commenting on the matter, Dr. Rohit, the president of JUDA, informed The Hans India, "At first place, all our postgraduates and graduates are vaccinated for coronavirus and are following all the safety precautions at the event and only half of the college is going to be there and only one parent per graduate is allowed to attend the convocation too."

"Convocation is a crucial event for students after getting educated for 5 years under one roof. Even we are worried about our lives and we are here to treat and save the health of people. We will strictly abide by rules and the event would hardly last two hours and no other programs are scheduled except the award distributions," he added.