Protest staged by over 200 interns at Government dental college on Thursday

HYDERABAD: A day after they were evicted from their hostel rooms, the Government Dental College, Afzalgunj, budged to two days of protests and decided return the 12 rooms to junior interns.

Officials had evicted 46 juniors after breaking open the room doors and throwing out their belongings. The interns said they were to be given their posting and the internship had been delayed. They said they had paid the hostel fee up to March, and no intern had ever left the hostel until they finished their internship in the past.

On Thursday too, the interns held a protest on the college campus. Expressing solidarity, senior interns refused to work for the day.

College Principal P. Aruna announced: “Director of Medical Education Dr Ramesh Reddy has asked us to allot the rooms back to the junior interns and we will follow it.”

She claimed that the students were being moved out for their own safety: The hostel could house 166 students but 366 students were staying there

A final year student at the hostel died due to TB. A second-year student skipped exams due to TB and a first-year student had just recovered from the same illness, Aruna said.

The interns had also signed a declaration that they would vacate the hostel once they begin the internship, but refused to do so, she said. “Despite warnings, the interns locked the rooms. So, we had to break open the rooms.”

“We cannot ask the first-year students to live on their own but interns can, as they earn up to Rs 22,000 per month,”Aruna said. She said that out of 90 rooms at the hostel for dental students, 10 continue to be occupied by medical students.

She said the college had requested the government to construct more rooms. “We have also requested the medical hostel block to accommodate dental students,” Aruna said.