DMC students issue 24-hr ultimatum, 5-point demand

Staff Reporter:

Students of Dhaka Medical College (DMC) have issued a 24-hour ultimatum to the authorities to fulfill their five-point demand, centering primarily on the acute accommodation crisis. The ultimatum was announced at a press conference on Sunday following a meeting with the college principal, which failed to yield any concrete assurance.

Abdullah Noman, a fifth-year student and one of the protest leaders, stated, “We met the principal at 10:30 am, but there was no clear response. We are not leaving the halls until our demands are met.”

The students urged Health Adviser Nurjahan Begum and ministry officials to visit the unsafe dormitories by 12 noon Monday, warning of intensified protest actions otherwise.

The DMC authorities declared the college closed indefinitely on Saturday and asked students to vacate the dormitories by Sunday noon. However, students have refused to leave, saying the issue remains unresolved.

Principal Prof Dr Kamrul Alam emphasized that students’ safety is a priority and the halls need to be vacated for renovation.

Professor Dr Md Kamrul Alam, principal of Dhaka Medical College (DMC), has said there are enough residential seats for students even without the use of the old academic building, which has been declared abandoned, but senior students are unwilling to share a room with more than one or two individuals.

“If students were willing to live cooperatively, all of them could be accommodated comfortably without the need for the abandoned building or shared halls,” he told reporters following a meeting with protesting students at his office on Sunday afternoon.