Delhi doctors wear black ribbons in solidarity with Haryana MBBS students protesting bond fee

NEW DELHI: Doctors at various government-run hospitals in Delhi on Monday wore black ribbons at work in solidarity with MBBS students in Haryana's Rohtak protesting a policy that mandated them to pay a bond fee of around Rs 10 lakh during admission.

The Federation of Resident Doctors' Association (FORDA) has given a call for the nationwide black ribbon protest, saying it was in response to the alleged police action against MBBS students of a medical college in Rohtak who were protesting against the "new bond policy".

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on November 2 said no student will have to deposit the Rs 10 lakh bond amount at the time of admission for MBBS in government colleges. According to a Haryana government statement, they will instead have to sign a bond-cum-loan agreement of the amount with the college and the bank concerned.

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"If the MBBS/MD passouts wish to join the state government and serve for seven years, the government will finance the bond amount. But candidates who do not want to join government services in Haryana will have to pay the amount themselves," the statement said. The bachelor's degrees of such students will be issued only after the candidates have met all the financial liabilities. The government said it has taken such a measure to encourage students to serve in government hospitals after their studies.

The announcement was made on a day MBBS students at Pandit Bhagwat Dayal Sharma Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences in Rohtak held a protest against the policy. Many doctors at Delhi government-run LNJP Hospital, DDU Hospital; and Centre-run Lady Hardinge Medical College and Hospital and Safdarjung Hospital sported black ribbons at work, a FORDA official said.

On November 5, FORDA in a letter to Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said, "An unwarranted fee hike in the form of a despicable bond policy followed by police action on innocent doctors who have given their best in all circumstances including the COVID-19 pandemic, shows the apathy and weak memory the government has".

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This incident will not only "bring down the morale of doctors" in the state in particular and the country in general, but will also "widen the gap between doctors and the government”, it wrote. Safdarjung Hospital RDA had earlier said that it will support the call given by FORDA. MBBS students have been protesting peacefully against the "unwarranted new bond policy" for MBBS in government medical colleges of Haryana, it said.

"Rather than addressing the issues and concerns of the budding doctors, the callous administration and authorities chose to fire water cannons, manhandle and forcefully drag the protesting students during midnight in this cold weather from Pt. B. D.Sharma Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS), Rohtak," it alleged. Many reports and purported videos are circulating on the Internet, and social media, showing the alleged action. "We stand in solidarity with the doctors of Haryana," the Safdarjung Hospital RDA said.