KOTTAYAM: The DMO on Saturday called off an interview that was being held at Kottayam district hospital to recruit nurses in the Covid hospitals. The only reason for this was that the applicants crowded in front of the hospital without following social distancing protocol.

The district hospital is currently functioning as the COVID hospital in Kottayam. However, hospital beds here are vacant at present. As the long queue of candidates extended to the road, it blocked even ambulances’ way into the hospital compound.

The police who arrived at the spot also found it difficult to control the crowd. The scheduled interview was for recruiting 21 nurses to temporary posts for one month.

DMO Jacob Varghese said such a huge turnout of applicants was least expected. Following the incident, it was decided to conduct online interview later.