Nationwide black ribbon protest against brutality towards Haryana MBBS students tomorrow: FORDA

NEW DELHI: The Federation of Resident Doctors’ Association (FORDA) has announced a nationwide black ribbon protest on November 7 against brutality towards Haryana MBBS students. The students were protesting against the bond policy for taking admission in government medical colleges.

Condemning the police action against doctors carrying out a peaceful protest against fee hike in government medical colleges, FORDA called the recent incident “barbaric”. The resident doctors alleged that the police force fired water cannons and forcefully dragged and manhandled the protesting doctors.

“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 pandemic, shows the apathy and weak memory the government has,” it said in a letter addressed to the Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya.

Also read | Health ministry working on guidelines to scrap bond policy for doctors

It further said that such incidents will not only bring down the morale of doctors in the particular state but also the country in general. “It will also widen the gap between the doctors and the government”.

Requesting the health minister to intervene and revoke legal action taken against the protesting MBBS students in Haryana, FORDA said, “As a show of solidarity and unity amongst our fellow colleagues and as a symbol of our denunciation for what has happened, we call for a nationwide observance of a black ribbon protest on the 7th of November, 2022.”

On November 2, the Haryana chief minister, Manohar Lal Khattar, announced that the students taking MBBS admission in government medical colleges need not pay a bond amount of Rs 10 lakh. Instead, they will now only have to enter into a bond-cum-loan agreement of the amount with the college and the concerned bank.

The health ministry said that it is working to finalise guidelines to do away with the bond policy for doctors based on the National Medical Commission's recommendations.