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.
The DMC principal said that they do not wish to house anyone in unsafe buildings, but the attitude and lack of cooperation from some students have become significant obstacles.
Kamrul said: “No student is supposed to reside in the abandoned building of DMC. The Public Works Department declared the building abandoned seven months ago.”
He added: “Even before that, the administration had repeatedly urged students to vacate and move to safer accommodation. For the past nine months, the current administration has been making every possible effort to relocate students from the building.”
He added that they did not stop at simply issuing instructions—they engaged in multiple discussions with the students and tried to make them understand, taking a parental approach on several occasions.
According to the principal, there are several other halls at DMC that are not abandoned and currently house students. However, disputes between senior and junior students over room-sharing arrangements have become a major issue.
“Some want only two students per room, while others are willing to accept three, but not more than that,” he added.
“This kind of mindset naturally creates problems. If everyone showed a bit of empathy towards one another, there would be no crisis,” he said.
He continued: “We calculated that, including the new batch, there are 755 students across six batches. Excluding the abandoned building and shared halls, we can still provide 766 seats as per Bangladeshi standards. Therefore, there is no shortage of seats.”
He said that adopting international standards—where each student gets a private room—is not feasible in the current context of the country. "However, the administration is sincere in ensuring at least a minimum level of safe accommodation."
The principal claimed that students had suspended academic activities even before the administration could intervene. Before Eid, they locked up the college and boycotted classes, he added.
He said: “Traditionally, medical students would take a day or two off around Eid, but classes would still continue. This time, they suspended classes without prior notice.”
“We, too, were once medical students,” said the principal. “We never acted in such a way. Protests and demands are understandable, but shutting down academic activities unilaterally is never a solution.”
He added that the administration also wants the buildings to be renovated because the current conditions are unacceptable, but for that, students must act responsibly.
“We are not rejecting the validity of the students’ protest,” he clarified. “But irresponsibility, disorder, and rigid attitudes only weaken a movement. If the students had cooperated, we could have reached an effective solution by now.”
Notably, students have been protesting for the renovation of the risky academic and residential buildings of DMC.
Since 28 May, students from the newest batch, K-82, have been boycotting all classes and exams, demanding alternative accommodation and renovation of both hostels and academic buildings.
They also skipped their orientation program in solidarity with their senior batches.
According to the students, plaster has fallen from the ceilings of washrooms and toilets on the third floor of Fazle Rabbi Hall, creating hazardous conditions. Most of the windows are broken.
In a previous incident, the grill of an entire window collapsed during a storm, injuring a student.
Several rooms on the third floor are said to be in a highly dangerous condition.
On June 6, students issued a statement warning about life-threatening conditions in their residential halls.
In the statement, they mentioned that Fazle Rabbi Hall, the girls’ hostel, the academic buildings, and several other structures have become "death traps."
Even though the Public Works Department declared Fazle Rabbi Hall unfit for habitation and abandoned it seven months ago, students are still living there under severe risk.
They warned that a tragedy like Rana Plaza or the Jagannath Hall collapse could be repeated, which would be a disgraceful incident for the country’s healthcare sector.
