Lucknow, Feb 14 (IANS): The King George's Medical University (KGMU) has hired bouncers to escort new students from the hostels to classes to protect them from ragging as the new session begins on Monday.

This is the first time that such an arrangement has been made.

Various government and private medical education institutions are set to start the new academic session of MBBS, which has been delayed by over six months due to the pandemic.

KGMU and Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences (RMLIMS) will hold induction ceremonies in which students will be administered Hippocratic oath, and aprons will be presented to them by heads of institutions on Monday.

Around 250 MBBS and 70 BDS students will join KGMU and 200 MBBS students will get into RMLIMS.

According to the spokesman, Dr Sudhir Singh, around 20 bouncers will escort new students from Atal Bihari Vajpayee Scientific Convention centre to their hostel to safeguard them from ragging. These bouncers will escort fresh students from classrooms to hostels also.

The MBBS academic session starts on August 1 every year, but the session of the 2021-22 batch has been delayed by almost six-and-a-half months.

In view of this situation, the duration of this session has been reduced from 13 months to 11 by the National Medical Commission.

KGMU spokesperson Dr Sudhir Singh said, "Both students and teachers will have to put in extra time, including on weekly offs and holidays, to make up for lost time.