Student housing: Sleeping in hospital wards beats sleeping on the street

Medical students say there are no hostels available for them.

SIALKOT: Medical college students in the district have protested against the lack of residential facilities in Sialkot. Dozens of medical college students from Government Safdar Medical College protested against the college administration and Education Department for lack of hostel facilities.

Students said that they had been appealing to the authorities in this regard for over eight months. “Many of us are not from the city and now we find ourselves camping out in the nurses quarter at the hospital or in the wards with patients,” said a student Mubashir.

Female students at the college said that they often stayed back at the hospital and slept in the nurses bunk beds, while male students used empty beds in the hospital wards. “We have little choice. There are no dorm facilities and we cannot afford to pay rent for apartments,” Naveed Khan said.

Over 100 male and female students are living without residential or hostel facilities and say that those who seek accommodation elsewhere lose hours on the daily commute. “We were promised residential facilities when we applied to the college but these have not been delivered,” the students said. In January 2011, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif inaugurated the medical college but since then, no hostel facility has been provided for students.  Earlier, the name of the medical college was Sialkot Medical College but the Punjab government changed the name this year to Govt Kh Safdar Medical College Sialkot. “The decision to change the name was taken just to please the Sialkot based PML-N central leader and MNA Khawaja Muhammad Asif despite strong criticism by the local social and political circles,” Mubashir said. “Why then can’t Khwaja Asif donate a plot for a hostel,” he added.

Half of the students enrolled at the medical college are getting their medical training at the nursing rooms of Govt Allama Iqbal Memorial DHQ Hospital and the remaining half are being trained at Govt. Sardar Begum Memorial DHQ Hospital Sialkot. “Most of the time we don’t bother coming back to campus after school because we know it’s easier to find a bed to sleep in the hospital,” said student Fatima Asad. Senior Sialkot health department officials have said that the pace of construction of the medical college’s own building was extremely slow due to the unavailability of funds. “Students remain divided between the two local DHQ hospitals because of the shortage of funds,” a health department official said.

Students said that they had been protesting off and on for months but the administration had not heeded their concerns regarding lack of housing.

Students have urged Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to look into the matter.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 12^th,  2011.