Police personnel deployed at MKCG in Berhampur after students’ agitation. Picture by Gopal Krishna Reddy

Berhampur, Sept. 20: Tension gripped MKCG Medical College and Hospital after 16 MBBS students flunked their final exams.

The results were announced by Berhampur University yesterday.

The students who failed gheraoed the principal and dean of the medical college, Arun Kumar Dandapat, for about five hours last night in protest against what they called irregularities in checking of papers and tabulation of marks.

Of the 16 students, seven are from the medicine department, six from surgery and three from gynaecology.

“We were targeted by the professors and our careers have been ruined,” said one of the students who did not want to be named. They alleged that many meritorious students had suffered.

The agitating students demanded an explanation from Dandapat. The students also tried to barge into the telemedicine centre where the principal and dean were discussing the issue with the head of the departments.

One platoon of police force has been deployed at the medical college to avoid any untoward incident. Berhampur superintendent of police Sarthak Sarangi, who happens to be an alumnus of MKCG, appealed to the agitating students not to take law and order into their own hands.

Sarangi, along with sub-collector Bijaya Kumar Das, tehsildar Rashmi Ranjan and the MKCG principal and dean discussed the issue to figure out a solution. But the stalemate still continues.

The students alleged that at a time when 22 MBBS students passed with honours at SCB Medical College, Cuttack, and 14 students at VSS Medical College, Burla, this year, not a single student in MKCG passed with honours this time.

“We have so many talented and meritorious students at MKCG. But passing MBBS with honours depends on so many factors. Two years ago, Pratik Panda, who passed MBBS without honours stood second in the All-India PG qualifying examination,” they said demanding a more transparent examination system.