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JU Correspondent: Students of Jahangirnagar University (JU) on Wednesday staged a human chain demanding an impartial investigation into the alleged disappearance of thousands of medicines from the university’s Medical Centre, alongside sweeping reforms to improve healthcare services for students.
The protest was held at around 12:30pm in front of the Medical Centre under the banner “Jahangirnagar Against Oppression.” The demonstrators also called for accountability over what they described as long-standing mismanagement, irregularities and poor medical services at the university.
The programme was moderated by Anika Tabassum Farabi, a student of the Department of Anthropology (52nd batch). Among those who addressed the gathering were Soma Dumri of the Department of Archaeology (51st batch), Biswajit Roy of the Department of History (54th batch), Wali Masud of the Department of English (54th batch), and Naziha Nawar of the Department of Economics (52nd batch).
Speaking at the protest, Faizan Arko, secretary of the Bangladesh Students’ Union’s JU unit, alleged that students had long been deprived of essential medicines, quality treatment and timely diagnostic services.
“The central message of today’s human chain is that the long-standing mismanagement at the Jahangirnagar University Medical Centre must come to an end,” he said.
He claimed that students frequently fail to receive even basic medicines, including antihistamines, while essential healthcare products for female students are often unavailable.
Referring to reports that nearly 19,500 units of medicine had gone missing within a span of just 20 days, Arko said the incident could not be dismissed as a routine administrative lapse.
“It indicates organised irregularities. We demand an impartial investigation and exemplary punishment for those responsible,” he said, adding that the university administration and the officials concerned should also be held accountable.
He further said elected student representatives should have identified such irregularities earlier and played a more proactive oversight role.
Addressing the gathering, Adri Ankur, president of the Bangladesh Students’ Union’s JU unit, criticised the state of healthcare services at the Medical Centre, saying students often refer to it as the “Napa Centre” because paracetamol is frequently the only medicine readily available.
“Now even medicines for fever, cold and cough are reportedly disappearing,” he alleged.
Ankur said students had repeatedly demanded that the Medical Centre be upgraded into a full-fledged healthcare facility, but their calls had gone unanswered.
He urged the university authorities to launch an immediate investigation into the alleged medicine misappropriation and ensure exemplary punishment for those found responsible, while also taking urgent steps to improve the quality of healthcare services on campus.