COVID-19: Jamia teachers' body starts fundraiser for 50-bed hospital

NEW DELHI: Over a dozen teaching and non-teaching staff of the Jamia Millia Islamia university lost their lives in the past few weeks due to COVID-19 complications. To create a dedicated health care facility on the campus, the Jamia Teachers' Association has started a fundraiser for the establishment of a 50-bed hospital.

The hospital will be a dedicated healthcare facility for Jamia staff. M Irfan Qureshi, secretary of the association, said: “This is heartening to mention that many teachers and staff members of Jamia have lost their lives to COVID-19 [for] want of good hospitals which they could not get even [after] running from pillar to post. Besides the death of many non-teaching staff members and retired teachers, four in-service teachers namely have lost their precious lives.”

The teachers’ body has also written to the Vice-Chancellor, Najma Akhtar, urging her to make a 50-bed hospital and requesting a financial contribution.

The association has also requested her to take steps to set up a medical college along with the hospital. “It had been a 100-year long dream for Jamia to have a full-fledged medical college, and establishing a 50-bedded hospital will open the ways for Jamia Medical College soon for which we are very hopeful and confident,” Qureshi further added.

Majid Jamil, president of the JTA has also appealed to Jamia teachers, alumni, and citizens to support this initiative.

COVID-19 second wave

The ferocious second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic has left universities scrambling to help their own communities. Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), which has a medical college and hospital in campus, has lost over a dozen teachers in a matter of weeks. An alarmed administration has sent samples to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for testing for variants.

Delhi University, which has several affiliated medical colleges, started gathering information on medical resources available to the university and college communities, after losing several of its staff members, including a joint registrar, to COVID-19. It has asked colleges to submit names of even relatives who might be willing to help.

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