By IANS,
Shillong : Students of the North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute for Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS) here Monday called off their indefinite strike, on its eighth day, after assurances that the issue of recognition of courses will be taken up.
More than 200 students were on indefinite strike from June 27 after learning that MBBS graduate course in the institute was yet to be recognised by the Medical Council of India (MCI).
“We have called off our agitation from today (Monday) evening after Governor R.S.Mooshahary assured us that he will take up the issue with Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad,” an agitating MBBS student told IANS, refusing to be named.
Confirming the end of the strike, NEIGRIHMS spokesman Bhaskar Borgohain said the students’ are expected to join the classes from Tuesday.
The MCI has refused to recognise the graduate course offered at NEIGRIHMS as it failed to meet the MCI guidelines.
According to the MCI guidelines, a medical institute has to have a minimum of 69 faculty members. But NEIGRIHMS has only 32 faculty members at present.
NEIGRIHMS has been designed on the lines of the premier All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) at New Delhi, and Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh.
The hospital was built at an estimated cost of Rs.420 crore and has a 30-bed Intensive Care Unit and 35 specialty and super specialty departments.