Foreign intern doctors of Ad-Din Medical College Hospital have appealed to the government to restore the hospital’s licence, saying its closure has jeopardised their internship programmes and created uncertainty over their academic future.
A delegation of foreign interns submitted a memorandum to the secretary of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Tuesday, urging authorities to allow the hospital to resume operations.
The move came a day after the interns approached the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) with the same demand.
As they were unable to meet the DGHS director general, they later visited the Directorate General of Medical Education to raise their concerns.
In the memorandum, the interns said the cancellation of the hospital’s licence had disrupted their mandatory internship training, leaving their medical education in limbo.
They also expressed concerns over a proposal to complete their internships at other hospitals, arguing that such a move could create complications regarding the recognition of their degrees.
According to the interns, regulations of India’s National Medical Commission (NMC) require medical graduates to complete their internship at the hospital affiliated with the institution from which they earned their degree.
A transfer to another hospital, they said, could affect the validity and recognition of their qualifications.
On 11 June, the DGHS revoked the licence of Ad-Din Medical College Hospital over allegations of negligence linked to the deaths of six newborns.
The health authority also directed the hospital to transfer all admitted patients to other healthcare facilities.
The incident that led to the action occurred on 27 May, when six newborns died in the hospital’s second-floor post-operative ward between 6am and 9am.
People familiar with the matter said the uncertainty surrounding the hospital’s licence has affected the internship programmes of several hundred local and foreign medical graduates, raising concerns about delays in completing their training and obtaining professional certification.
