PESHAWAR: The students of the Institute of Nursing Sciences of Khyber Medical University (KMU) have complained about non-availability of hostels, delay in announcement of results and lack of trained clinical instructors, and warned to start protest sit-ins against the university’s management after Muharram if the demands were not met.

Speaking at a news conference at the Peshawar Press Club on Monday, the students’ representatives Waheed Noor, Zakria and Waqarullah said that the previous provincial government had approved scholarships on merit from the Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA), and each student got Rs3,000 per month, but the same was stopped during the current government.

The students said that the scholarship was also given to students of Al-Shifa and Agha Khan medical colleges with each getting Rs13,000, but KMU students were paid only Rs300 which was injustice with them.

Similarly, they pointed out that the results were declared very late and there was no arrangement for holding supplementary examinations which usually resulted into loss of precious time of the students who were not given chances in the hospitals for internship.

“The institute lacks subject specialists and the students face serious problems due to untrained clinical instructors,” they pointed out. The students also complained that there was no separate hostel for the students of the nursing institute, saying that the female students were insecure while living in private and substandard hostels.

They also complained about being not given chances for internship in the government-run hospitals, forcing them to move to private healthcare centres where the stipend given to them was next to nil and teachers avoided paying them attention.

They said that there were some 350 students and about half of them were females, but they were suffering due to indifferent attitude of the concerned officials. They said that the entire responsibility rested with students’ coordinator Nasreen Ghani who didn’t solve their problems.

“We have time and again tried to apprise the KMU vice chancellor Dr Hafeez-ur-Rehman of the problems being faced by the students but the coordinator avoids conveying our request to him for a meeting,” they complained.

The students said that the only option left with them was to start protest demonstrations and move court. “We will start sit-in outside Governor House or the press club after Muharram if the varsity administration didn’t solve our problems,” they warned and called for replacing the concerned coordinator.

Published in Dawn, October 28th, 2014