THIS is with reference to the report ‘Premature to say anything about MBBS student’s suicide: police’ (Nov 26). The heart-wrenching and mysterious death in Larkana of Chandka Medical College (CMC) student Nosheen Bukhari, who was found hanging in a hostel room, is the second such case related to the Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Medical University (SMBBMU) within a couple of years.

Earlier, in 2019, Nimrita Amarta Maher Chandani, a BDS final-year student at Bibi Aseefa Dental College (BADC) at the same university, was found dead hanging in her hostel room. According to the final post-mortem examination report, she had been assaulted before her death, and died owing to asphyxiation.

Considering similarities between Nimrita’s murder and Nosheen’s mysterious death at the same university, there are several questions that come to one’s mind. What compelled the latter to commit suicide in a hostel room at the university campus? Was it really a suicide? Or was it something else?

The initial police report in Nimrita’s case had also said that she had committed ‘suicide’, but later it was proved to be a rape-and-murder case.

The parents have so many hopes and dreams that one day their daughters will qualify from a medical university with a medical degree and practise as a doctor, making them proud. But such horrific incidents are disappointing and discouraging for the parents and the girls studying in universities.

What makes the matters worse is inaction and indifference on the part of the university administration in question where Nosheen died. Studying for an MBBS degree is a painstaking process. It takes a lot of time and energy to work hard to become a doctor. Some parents, in order to make their daughters’ career secure and bright, even sell off valuable property so that their daughters may continue their medical studies.

Such incidents put parents in a quandary, and the latest tragedy is not exception. Will they allow their daughters to study in such universities, especially when it involves living in hostels? If they don’t, who will be responsible for the shortage of doctors which is already acute in the country? Such cases underline the complete failure, rather collapse, of the system.

Will the government take serious notice and ensure safe environment for girl students in educational institutions? Or should parents stop sending their daughters to study to such universities?

Mujeeb Ali Samo
Larkana

Published in Dawn, November 28th, 2021