A university is not merely a place for academic learning—it is a living community, a microcosmic state. Its students not only receive education but also engage in the practice of humanity, justice, and public service.
In today’s world, residential universities across the globe ensure access to proper healthcare services. For, just as life becomes unbearable without good health, a university too becomes dysfunctional without adequate healthcare.
Unfortunately, at Bangladesh’s top universities—particularly Jahangirnagar University (JU), Dhaka University (DU), and many others—healthcare is often neglected, and administrative mismanagement is alarmingly evident. Let us consider JU and DU, two of the most prestigious public universities. Both institutions have long-standing issues with their health centers.
Even 11 years after its establishment, the medical center at Jahangirnagar University operates with only 9 doctors and just 3 functioning ambulances to serve nearly 20,000 stakeholders. With no inpatient hospital facility, proper treatment for serious cases is often out of reach, and even routine care becomes difficult.
On Fridays and Saturdays, no pathological tests are available. The center relies heavily on contractual doctors, and there have been proven instances of misdiagnoses and faulty reports. The trust students once had in the facility has broken down completely. In frustration, students mockingly refer to the center as the "Napa Center" (named after a common painkiller). The situation has turned dire—Zubair, a student of anthropology at JU, tragically died after treatment was delayed.
Meanwhile, Dhaka University’s health center is expected to serve nearly 150,000 faculty, staff, and students with just 28 part-time or temporary doctors. Of its 20 hospital beds, many are frequently unusable.
The center struggles with broken infrastructure, filth, and an unhygienic environment. After 8 PM, no medicine is available. Pathology samples are collected for just a few hours a day, and overall, the health center has devolved into a tired and ineffective government office.
A few years ago, a DU student went on a solo hunger strike, presenting six demands—an information desk at the entrance, disability-friendly facilities, special care for female students, modern equipment, nutritious meals, and hygienic toilets. Each demand reflected fundamental civic rights and the bare minimum for humane campus management.
Medical officers and university authorities may cite limited budgets, staff shortages, or red tape at the University Grants Commission (UGC), but one must ask: with an annual budget of hundreds of crores, why is student healthcare not a top priority?
Medical care is neither a luxury nor something to be delayed. If healthcare infrastructure is not prioritized at educational institutions, nation-building cannot be achieved by classroom teaching alone.
A deeper truth must be acknowledged: merely allocating funds does not ensure quality care. Without duty, transparency, and humane commitment, healthcare becomes a reflection of a broken state. Medical negligence, doctors leaving early, careless staff—these are symptoms of moral decay that money alone cannot cure.
Therefore, every university medical center must be transformed into an efficient, trustworthy, and vital hub for healthcare. This requires hiring specialist doctors, providing modern diagnostic equipment, ensuring an adequate supply of medicines, and guaranteeing 24/7 emergency services. Treatment cannot be limited to just paracetamol and basic blood tests.
A university is the intellectual heart of society—if illness festers in that heart, how can the mind of a nation remain sound?
Thus, where there is illness, there must be healing.
