By Hirresh Sai Suria (3rd Year Medical Student, USM-KLE IMP, Belgaum, India)

BELGAUM, KARNATAKA, INDIA, 10 April 2020 – COVID-19 has brought about many changes in our daily lives, be it, in terms of work, classes or even our hobbies. As students in a foreign country, things are a little harder to work with especially when sorting out food supplies, medications and/or basic day-to-day necessities. 

The current situation in India right now doesn’t look too promising. India currently has 6,725 confirmed cases with 226 deaths (as of 10 April 2020) with the chance of increasing rapidly over the next few weeks or perhaps even months. The government is doing all they can to contain the situation by initiating a strict total lockdown with the police patrolling every minute to prevent any tom, dick and harry from lingering without any proper reason to. Other efforts such as closing its borders is also an effort taken by the government to help the situation. Both of these have the biggest impact on us (USM medical students pursuing the USM-KLE International Medical Programme here) which I will further explain in the coming paragraphs. 

Fortunately for us, the situation in Belgaum is not half as bad as the neighbouring counties. With 8 confirmed cases (10 April 2020), the situation is not increasing as rapidly as anyone expected; perhaps the governments’ efforts to contain the number of infected people is good after all. These patients are all housed in the civil hospital (about 3km away from the hostel). As good as the doctors are here, India lacks good equipment especially in areas such as Belgaum. Rural areas such as ours have lots of perks, for example when it comes to practical we get hands-on with patients which students in other regions may not be able to experience. However when it comes to situations such as the COVID-19 has created, small areas such as these are the ones you have to avoid. Villagers, illiterates and many old people who do not update themselves regularly are unsure of the implications COVID-19 can cause.

Due to the reasons stated above, the USM-KLE director, Dr. H.B. Rajashekar as well as the deputy dean, Professor Kamarudin Jalaam has made sure that the students do not leave the hostel. Along with these efforts, the crisis management committee has also elected students to monitor the entry of the hostel.

In terms of the welfare of the students, not much has changed since before and after the lockdown. Students are still able to go about their daily activities-indoor (well, except sports) but we haven’t encountered any other problem regarding the welfare of the students. I’ve had the honour of organising the raw food supply for the students here and as of today, we have devised an organised plan to deliver rice, vegetables and raw chicken if needed once a week. 

Apart from raw materials, the mess is also open on a daily basis to cater food for the first year students and other students who wish to eat there. There have been concerns regarding the strict lockdown and those vendors who deliver goods to the university but this problem was easily resolved when the chairman of KLE Society, Dr. Prabakhar Kore gave an official letter to the staff ensuring that they and/or the vendors are allowed to move in and out of the hostel freely. Will there be enough food in the near future? How long would we have to ration our food? These are the questions only time can answer, we hope the current vendors will be able to supply food in the long run.

Medical Society 2019/2020 has also set up a medium where students are able to order medications through an E-form which will be delivered within 3-4 days with the aid of a doctor and nurse here. This is to prevent students from leaving the hostel but still being able to get their medications in a timely manner. 

Most of the pre-clinical and clinical students have begun e-learning, for the most part, they’ve mainly begun exploring the way things would work. Personally, online teaching has felt a little awkward as I have never experienced it before but I am positive that it would be an interesting experience after a while. However, as a clinical student, in the midst of COVID-19, we do understand it is safer to conduct e-learning than to be physically present in the hospital. Medical students worldwide are going through the same dilemma as us, it is near impossible or rather dangerous to conduct clinical classes in the hospital. 

All in all, I’m sure by the time this pandemic resolves, we’ll all grow in our own ways. It would be a fascinating story to tell the coming generations about how we survived the pandemic in a different country. To be frank, it has been emotional for all of us dealing with COVID-19 away from home. Many of us are scared, some even paranoid at times but I believe with the kindness and compassion our students have shown (towards each other) in the past years, we’ll be able to get through this without breaking a sweat. 

As our Vice-Chancellor, Professor Dr. Faisal Rafiq Mahamd Adikan usually says, “We will nail this together, folks!” to which I’ll say “Indeed, we shall.”