Nursing students complain of poor meals at BBH hostel

The female students residing in the nursing college hostel of the Benazir Bhutto Hospital are allegedly facing difficulties due to substandard food quality, imposition of fines by the college principal and rendering of the student committee ineffective.

Sources said as many as 250 female students, who reside in the nursing college hostel are required to pay Rs4,500 per month in respect of the mess charges, but according to the students, they are mostly given vegetables and lentils to eat. Whereas they are seldom served meat.

“We are served with vegetables and lentils even in the breakfast as well,” they lamented and went on to allege that leftovers were served to them the following day and the same meal is served again two or three days later. The students said, “If any pupil complains, they are made to suffer using different tactics.”

The students also accused the principal of the nursing college hostel of illegally involving her husband in the matters of the mess.

Similarly, fines and penalties continue to be imposed on female students and “no one knows anything about which student will be fined and how much fine will be imposed on which fault, nor has any notification been displayed anywhere”.

On the other hand, when contacted, Principal Nursing College Hostel Jacqueline Albert denied the allegations of the students. However, on the question of involving her husband in the mess' affairs, she tried brushing it under the carpet by saying it did not matter and later said: “He is not my husband.”

On a question regarding the ineffectiveness of the student committee, she said: “As far as the student committee is concerned, it keeps changing.” About the food quality, she claimed that it was up to the mark.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 12^th, 2022.