How healthy are our varsities?

JAWAHARLAL NEHRU UNIVERSITY
JNU has a doctor and ambulance available round the clock since the last week of September — following the student protest against lack of facilities following Agrawal’s death. The ambulance is on contract for three months from a private operator and the university is trying to acquire one on a long-term basis.

Prakash Ray,a student of JNU for 12 years,says an ambulance became the need of the hour due largely to the phenomenal area-wise growth of the university over the past decade or so. “It was much smaller in 1997,when I joined,” he says,“but JNU now resembles a township. I think the new ambulance is vital but I also think they should be willing to take students back from AIIMS after treatment.”

Students criticise the JNU ambulance because the vehicle does not return to pick students from AIIMS and drop them back at the university — “even if they are ill”.

Delhi University
The North Campus has an ambulance available 24×7,along with a doctor,at its World University Service (WUS) Health Centre. Patients who cannot be treated at WUS are taken to Hindu Rao Hospital.

Officials say WUS handles around 1.2 lakh cases annually and has three beds,but patients cannot be admitted. It has 12 regular doctors on rolls and 13 consultants who visit periodically.

The centre,which works on a contributory model like the government-run CGHS,handled 2,705 emergency cases in 2007 and 2,301 in 2008. During the day,a doctor on duty has the extra charge of the emergency room.

The WUS at DU is tied to the hostel facilities and students’ contribution to the health centre is included in their hostel fees. But many second- and third-year students say they have not renewed their membership,though it is free. “I have not renewed my membership,” Hindu College student Sunny Kumar says. “Though there is no doubt doctors are accessible,when I took a friend with an upset stomach to the facility sometime last year around 10 pm,there was no doctor on duty.

“Medicine was administered by the attendants.”

Hansraj College student Abhishek Choudhary says,“The only time I went to the health centre was this January — I had an upset stomach. Though many students were suffering from the same problem at the time,thanks to the water supplied in the hostels,the health centre had only basic medicines.”

Choudhary says most Hansraj College hostel residents go to Hindu Rao Hospital because it is closer than WUS.

A student also recollects how,before the DUSU elections this year,there was a scuffle outside his college gates and his friend was injured in the head. “We approached the hostel warden and he directed us to take a friend’s vehicle,” the student (name withheld on request) says. “None of us,the warden included,knew of the ambulance facility.”

DELHI TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY
Formerly Delhi College of Engineering,the new kid on the block does not have a full-fledged ambulance on call and also lacks a 24-hour health facility. Two regular doctors are on rolls,and three specialists visit every week.

The university has a vehicle to take students to hospitals in Rohini — 15 minutes away.

A student says basic medicines are available at the campus pharmacy but there are no facilities to admit patients. A university official says the health centre is being upgraded to 12 beds. The university is also in talks with local hospitals to chalk out a medical contingency plan.

DTU has 2,500 students,and about 1,000 live in the hostel.

JAMIA MILLIA ISLAMIA
The Ansari Health Centre here does not work round the clock: it operates from 4 pm to 9 pm from Mondays to Thursdays,and 2.30 pm to 7.30 pm on Fridays and Saturdays. There is no ambulance on call.

The university’s media coordinator,Rakhshanda Jalil,says students go to the Holy Cross Hospital “just down the road” at night. She says the university has a van on campus to ferry students to the hospital in cases of emergency.

Confirming that most emergency cases are taken to Holy Family Hospital,a student says he is,however,not aware of any vehicle that Jalil says the university provides.

Ansari Health Centre has six regular doctors and five consultants on its rolls.

Saudi Arabia is helping Jamia set up King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz health centre on campus at a cost of Rs 2.25 crore; work is in progress.

JAMIA HAMDARD
A deemed university,it has the 150-bed Majeedia Hospital attached to the campus. The hospital not only has unani practitioners but also doctors of allopathic medicine. It has ambulances and a medical team on emergency duty round the clock.

The hospital has a six-bed intensive care unit and out-patient facilities are free for students and staff.