The Inside Story: Why did half the students in Osmania Medical college's Anesthesia department fail?

The Inside Story: Why did half the students in Osmania Medical college's Anesthesia department fail?
The Inside Story: Why did half the students in Osmania Medical college's Anesthesia department fail?
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 The first week of July saw many post graduate students from the Osmania Medical college dejected as the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care saw a pass percentage of 47%, which is the lowest the department has ever achieved. While many were clueless as to how this happened, a post graduate student from the department claims to know how it happened.To understand the reason for this, rewind the clocks to September 29 2014. Around 500 junior doctors from nine teaching hospitals affiliated to Osmania Medical College boycotted non-emergency duties protesting against mandatory rural service.As a result of the protest, many patients slated to undergo surgeries were in trouble. The Telangana Junior Doctors Association (TJUDA) demanded that the government replace the one-year compulsory rural stint with a voluntary system.This strike left many service post graduates students burdened with work. The HOD of the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care, who was also the superintendent of the hospital, was unhappy with the strike and urged the protesters to come back. On October 15, 2014, many of the junior doctors, who were still on strike, had reportedly requested for permission to participate in the World Anesthesia Day which falls on October 16. This request by the junior doctors, upset the service post graduates were claimed that the junior doctors who refused to treat patients, also did not have any right to participate in celebrations. A strong protest came from the service post graduates following which the HOD did not permit the post graduates to attend the celebrations. This is where things started going downhill. Days passed by, and the strike finally stopped on October 31, 2014 after an order by the Hyderabad High Court. During the strike, pressure kept mounting on the Superintendent and rumours surfaced that the Anesthesia department post graduates and junior doctors were instigating the other departments to continue the strike. This resulted in humiliation and embarrassment for the HOD.The service post graduates were working from 9 am to 3 am during the strike approached the HOD and asked for an exemption from night duties for a month as exams were approaching, which they were granted.The theory exams were over in April 2015. The junior doctors, also referred to as the non-service post graduates, were worried while about the practical exams to be held in May 2015 while the service post graduates were less tense because of their good rapport with the HOD. This is where everything crashed for us. Many rules set up by the Medical Council of India (MCI) were flouted during the exams and ten students were examined instead of eight. According to clause 14.1 of the MCI, the maximum number of candidates to be examined in Clinical / practical and Oral on any day shall not exceed eight for M.D./M.S. degree, eight for diploma and three for D.M./M/Ch examinations.Also, a junior professor was forwarded by the HOD to the university as second internal instead of a senior, breaching yet another rule. This got all the students skeptical about the results as they realized that the tides had turned. Finally, all the practical exams were over. However, no results followed for a long time as the students waited patiently. Rumors started suggesting that only 50% had passed.Usually the results are announced within May only or by June first week at the latest, so students can start planning ahead. However this was not the case, this year. On June 23, 2015, the result for three students came out and two had failed. Now, people started believing that the rumour might be true. The JUDA was pressurizing the Government to release the results but the university kept taking extensions and finally released the results by the first week of July.By now it was clear that the rumor was true as six out of seven service and ten out of 25 non-service students failed in the practical examination. A total of 16 students out of 32 failed in practical exams. Many students have alleged a conspiracy by the HOD who was angry at the students and claim that he flouted norms to teach the students for going against him and protesting.Another key point to be noted was that some of the students who failed also scored 247 marks in the theory exams, with 254 being the university's highest mark. Is it really worth destroying a students future based on a personal vendetta?Never, has Osmania medical college seen such appalling results, that too from the department that gave the world the Hyderabad Chloroform Commission. The writer is a student of Osmania Medical college who wished to remain anonymousP.S - When contacted, the professor in conversation, Dr C G Raguram told TNM that all the allegations against him were false and that he has already answered to his authorities. "The anesthetic department is serious business as even the slightest error could cause a loss of life. That is the reason many have failed in the practicals. There is no need for me to explain things to anyone else but my authorities," he added. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this articles are the personal opinions of the author. The News Minute is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, suitability or validity of any information in this article. The information, facts or opinions appearing in this article do not reflect the views of The News Minute and The News Minute does not assume any liability on the same. 

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