Some of the posters on the college wall. A Telegraph picture

Gangtok, Jan. 23: The Union health ministry’s recognition of the first two batches of Sikkim Manipal Institute of Medical Sciences has failed to break the impasse at the medical college, 4 km from here.

The striking students and interns, who have been demanding a Medical Council of India (MCI) affiliation for their institute, refused to end their 13-day agitation today, citing the uncertain future of their juniors.

Though happy and relieved after the health ministry’s recognition, the students want an assurance that the other batches too will be recognised. This is because they fear that since only the first two batches had received the MCI go-ahead when they sought admission — no such green signal was there for the others — students who took admission in the next few years might land in trouble unless the recognition came through soon.

“We are happy that the health ministry recognised our degrees and we are grateful to the state government for pursuing it. But now, we want assurances for our juniors too,” an intern said.

The students also demanded a meeting with the head of the Manipal Group, Ramdas Pai.

Today, protesters were seen camping outside vice-chancellor K. Jayakumar’s office as well as the administrative wing of the college. Some of them felt that the institute should follow the guidelines of the MCI so that the problem is rooted out once and for all.