Around a dozen foreign students at Punjab University (PU) have been infected with dengue thanks to poor cleanliness arrangements and lack of anti-dengue spray at the varsity’s hostels, Pakistan Today learnt on Wednesday. According to PU sources, foreign students from Japan, Sudan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Yemen and other parts of the world enrolled in various programmes at the varsity and residing at varsity’s Hostel No 2 are tense over the epidemic and demand the administration spray hostel rooms. PU Hall Council Chairman Dr Amin Ather said that the administration had made adequate arrangements against dengue and were taking care of the foreigners as well. The administration would take further steps in this regard, he added.
Sources report that dengue has not spared both foreign and local students and employees at other PU hostels, however most of the cases were reported from PU Hostel No 2. A DENGUE FILLED EID FOR FOREIGNERS: According to a PU official, the varsity administration did not continue fumigation and spray after Eid, when Pakistani students had left hostels for their hometowns but foreign students were still residing at Hostel No 2. Foreign students caught dengue during these Eid holidays, he said. The official said that some of the patients had recovered while other were still under the virus’s grip and preferred to stay away from hostels. He questioned the quality of medicine used in the spray in the varsity. He also considered the presence of open spaces at the varsity, where water stagnated and facilitated dengue mosquito’s breeding.
DENGUE PATIENTS: Following foreign students at PU Hostel No 2 have been reported to be dengue positive: Muhammad Iltjani and Usman Mustafa from Sudan (residing in room no 214 and 210 respectively), students of Pharmacy, Ahmad Hassan from Yemen (residing in room no 232), studying at Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Danaish Kumar and Bemal from Nepal (residing in room no 250 and 248 respectively), students of pharmacy, Seeta Ram from Nepal (residing in room no 250), studying at Institute of Communication Studies (ICS), Ajeet, Aneel, Mahmood Abbas and Kasim from Nepal (residing in room no 318, 347 and 348 respectively), students of pharmacy, and one student from Japan (residing in room no 228). Moreover, the hostel’s security guard and a local student, Rana Ajman, have also been diagnosed with dengue.
STUDENT PANIC: PU students pondered over the intensity of dengue in Hostel No 2, while fewer people were infected in 20 other varsity hostels. A foreign student, on anonymity, said that their families back home were fretting over the virus’s spread and the lives it had claimed in the last few days. He said that varsity administration would be responsible if any of the students died of dengue. He asked the administration to set up dengue camps at the hostels, where the number of dengue patients was rising. However, he said that they were taking all possible measures, including the use of repellants and sprays, to counter dengue in their personal capacity.
A PU student at Hostel No 2 said that PU administration closed the varsity like other institutions but ignored the main issue which was lack of spray and fumigation at the varsity. He blamed the administration for not making adequate arrangements against dengue fever. Closing the varsity was not a solution; spraying was, he maintained.
