It seems that many university administrations are being negligent in Pakistan, with another student dying in entirely preventable circumstances. Last Tuesday, a Masters student, Misbah died due to the lack of a doctor at the Quaid-e-Azam University.
The Masters student, Misbah, from the Department of Gender Studies was taken to QAU’s medical center after she complained of a severe headache. However, there were no doctors available.
When the headache didn’t cease, she was taken to Federal Government Services (FGS) Polyclinic Hospital in Islamabad on Saturday.
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At that point it was too late, but she remained in the Polyclinic ICU till she finally breathed her last on October, 4th. The Nation reports that an official also said that Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of QAU also does not have a MBBS degree and is a biologist. This points to alleged negligence on part of the university.
Quaid-e-Azam University Denies Responsibility
QAU Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr. Mohammad Ali Shah denied the university had any responsibility in the matter. He said there was no negligence by the university.
According to the QAU VC Misbah only remained at the first aid center for five minutes before she was provided healthcare by a lady doctor, MO Dr. Uzma Masood.
Apparently Dr. Uzma Masood resides at walking distance from the medical centre and she gave Misbah a pain killer for her headache. Dr. Mohammad Ali Shah said that university examined the student’s medical history.
He then said Misbah had never visited the university medical centre before. According to Dr. Mohammad Ali Shah, Misbah had a clinical history of brain tumor.
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He says the student then went back to her hostel, but was taken to Polyclinic hospital when her condition did not stabilize. He still saw no flaw in the medical facilities and protocol at the QAU medical center.
Bottom Line
The QAU first aid service is to ensure that medical fatalities like this are avoided. Maybe the issue isn’t that this recent trend of negligence emerged. Perhaps safety and health protocols in Pakistan’s universities have always been inadequate, and now this issue has come to the forefront.
At this point students just wonder how many more deaths will it take for the Higher Education Commission to order universities that they invest in better safety and health protocols.
I wonder what will it take for the authorities to reform the health and safety standards at university campuses.
— Zameer Maan (@ZameerMaan) October 6, 2019
Then of course there are people that would rather blame other factors with ‘what ifs’, rather than the obvious one staring them in the face.
https://twitter.com/IL_Says/status/1180897916241764354
People are outraged at the callousness of QAU to deny responsibility. Recently the university was under fire for use of violence to enforce student discipline. To curb violent conflicts and protests on campus the QAU administration had been using excessive force, even violence.
In this clip, we shed light on the crisis inflicting higher education in Pakistan, including the recent incidents at Punjab University and Quaid-e-Azam University.
For the full show, click the link below.https://t.co/wcG5Rf8FFq pic.twitter.com/bBDt6l9APe
— Ammar Ali Jan (@ammaralijan) October 5, 2019
Protesting students at Quaid-e-Azam University are being threatened by university administration. Rather than negotiate with students, university registrar has asked for an FIR to be lodged against them.
The increasing criminalization of dissent must be resisted. pic.twitter.com/MN9dW5AE39
— Ammar Ali Jan (@ammaralijan) September 27, 2019
All this taken in consideration, it doesn’t bode well for QAU administration or any higher education body if they fail to reform.
