MUMBAI: The Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) has proposed a series of measures to strengthen the health and emergency response system on its campuses following the death of 26-year-old postgraduate student P Janarthanan, even as student organisations have demanded compensation for his family and accountability from the institute.
This is the institute’s way-forward: It plans to appoint two full-time resident doctors, nursing staff and trained medical personnel, and has proposed a basic life support ambulance and round-the-clock emergency transport facilities. The incident raised concerns among students about the lack of emergency medical facilities and an ambulance on the campus. After he collapsed in class, a classmate drove the student to Zen Multi-speciality Hospital, in Chembur, in his car parked in the campus. The incident spurred TISS administration to review its existing health and emergency arrangements. It is also looking at strengthening hospital referral arrangements and providing necessary emergency medical equipment on campus. It demanded compensation and institutional support for Janarthanan’s family, besides academic and psychosocial support for students affected by the death. PSF also demanded an independent, time-bound inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the death and the campus’ emergency response. It questioned why repeated demands raised by students and the Students’ Council regarding ambulance services, emergency care and health infrastructure in the past were ignored.
It will now draw up written emergency protocols so that students and staff become aware to the action forward in cases of emergencies.
The Progressive Students Forum (PSF), however, said the administration’s response must go beyond announcing measures after the incident. “The recent incident has brought into sharp focus what students have been saying for years — the campus facilities are inadequate, fragmented and not equipped to respond to serious emergencies,” PSF said, in a statement issued on Wednesday. Janarthanan, a first-year postgraduate student, reportedly suffered breathlessness during a class at TISS’s Deonar campus on Monday and subsequently died after suffering cardiac arrest.
The administration added that it also supported the student’s family with travel, accommodation and other arrangements. Janarthanan experienced discomfort at around 9.10am and the campus doctor was contacted at around 9.13am, following which he was taken to the Chembur hospital, according to TISS.
