32 foreign students seek permission to continue internship at Ad-din hospital

Thirty-two foreign medical students have submitted a five-point demand to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), requesting permission to continue their mandatory internship at Ad-din Hospital despite the recent cancellation of the facility's license.

The students from Ad-din Women's Medical College visited the DGHS headquarters to submit a memorandum to the Director General on Monday morning.

In the memorandum, the students highlighted that around 209 of the foreign students at Ad-din Women's Medical College hail from Jammu and Kashmir, India.

"Many of us have already completed several crucial years of our medical education. We are particularly concerned about the status of 32 Kashmiri students who are currently undergoing their internships at this hospital," the statement noted.

The students explained that they have successfully finished their academic education and are now completing the mandatory internship training required to obtain their registration and enter the medical profession.

They further stated that their plan is to return to India and begin their medical careers after finishing the training. However, according to the regulatory framework for medical graduates in India, internships must be completed continuously at the exact same institution where the medical education was received. The memorandum pointed out that completing an internship partially at one institution and partially at another might not be recognized for professional registration in India.

The crisis follows an incident on the morning of May 27, the day before Eid, when six newborns died in the post-delivery ward of Ad-din Hospital in Moghbazar. An investigation committee formed by the Ministry of Health subsequently found evidence of negligence by the hospital authorities.

According to the probe report, the potential cause of the infants' deaths was an elevated level of carbon dioxide in the air, caused by overcrowding in the ward, the air conditioning being switched off for a prolonged period, and a lack of alternative ventilation systems.

Following the incident, the DGHS made the decision to cancel the hospital's license after deeming the explanation provided by the hospital authorities unsatisfactory.