Last Updated on December 3, 2020 by The Health Master
The National Medical Commission (NMC) has issued guidelines for reopening of medical colleges in the country. However, since the states/UTs are in different C-19 phases, colleges are likely to face a number of issues at the time of reopening.
The guidelines said that the faculty, staff and students of the university and college should all download ‘Aarogya Setu App’.
To download the guidelines, click here
Institutions should have a plan ready for students who cannot join the programme due to travel restrictions. Online teaching-learning arrangements should also be made for them, the document said.
The colleges have also been asked to set up helplines for mental health, psychological concerns and well-being of students in their campus which “need to be regularly monitored by counsellors and other identified faculty, as per the guidelines.
Safety measures including sanitisation of premises, thermal screening, ensuring physical distancing, face-cover/mask wearing, respiratory hygiene and hand-hygiene etc are some of the day-to-day basic C-19 preventive measures that the colleges/Universities have to follow regularly, as per guidelines.
The guidelines stated, “Institutions should be ready with a plan for handling the inflow of students, faculty and staff in the campus, monitoring disinfecting measures, safety and health conditions, screening and detecting the infected persons, containment measures to prevent the spread of the virus in the campus, and also alternative plan(s), in case the campus needs to be closed again due to spread of the virus in campus or in the surrounding area(s) in near future.”
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The institutions should train their staff and students to assist and undertake the work related to safety and health to prevent an outbreak of the pandemic in their campuses. Non-resident students should be allowed in campuses only after thermal scanning, sanitization of their hands, wearing of face masks and gloves. Symptomatic persons should not be permitted to enter the campus and should be advised to contact the nearest hospital for clinical assessment.
To avoid the risk of transmission, the students, faculty and staff should be screened and symptomatic ones be advised to get clinically assessed before allowing them entry into the campus.
The guidelines further stated that colleges should prepare a policy for restricting the outside experts on campuses, study tours, field works etc., keeping in mind the C-19 situation. For all teaching hospitals, at least 30% beds be allotted to teaching units and all necessary precautions must be adhered to.
The document added that all preventive measures, preparedness and necessary support system to deal with the C-19 positive cases should be monitored and reported to local authorities on a day to day basis.
“There should be adequate isolation arrangements for those having symptoms and also for those who test positive for C-19 (however the two need to be kept separately), either at the level of the institution or in collaboration with the Government authorities,” the guidelines added.
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