Report/Laiba Ali
A first semester student, Ameer Bux Shar, of The Allied Institute which is an affiliated college of Dow Medical University Karachi, allegedly died of alarmingly low sugar and blood levels amid the examination process in Dow Medical College as the students examination hall of one of the most prestigious medical colleges in the country lacked first-aid in case of any medical emergency.
According to the sources, Ameer Bux suddenly started feeling dizzy and was having difficulty breathing when he finished his exam on August, 5th. His fellow students claim that the invigilators took no notice of the emergency situation and offered no help to the student. Having no wheelchair or emergency kit, he was carried to the medical room of the Institute on the back of his friend. The first-aid centre of Dow Medical College was not equipped to handle any medical emergency so the student was immediately referred to Jinnah Hospital after much hassle.
Unfortunately, Ameer Bux couldn’t make it to the hospital and took his last breath in the ambulance.
The students are enraged at the loss of a life due to the sheer negligence and incompetence of the administration. Eye witnesses claim that they were appalled at the indifference of the invigilators as the situation of the student kept deteriorating. Javed Shar, a close friend of Ameer Bux claims that “the faculty at Dow Medical’s emergency refused to extend service to Ameer because they said it would cost money. They asked us to move him to Jinnah but we had already lost so much time.”
The general lack of concern of the administration for the safety and health of the students is shocking. More than 2000 students are giving the nursing examinations in this scorching heat and yet the administration didn’t bother to provide basic facilities or equip itself to deal with medical emergencies. This is eye-opening for the students as well as the parents who will now have to see their children die in examination centres. We are entitled to ask, where does all the educational budget go if this is the stark reality of our institutes?
“We strongly condemn this criminal negligence of the concerned authorities and immediately demand the administration to answer for the death of our fellow student. In times like these, it becomes extremely essential to raise voice for students rights and collectively work towards dismantling this system that not only undermine basic educational rights but also provides just the bare minimum facilities for students to produce more cogs in the machine,” maintained Virsa Pirzada, General Secretary of Progressive Students Collective.
