MEDICAL students of Kaduna State University (KASU) yesterday took to the streets in the metropolis to protest against the non-accreditation of medical courses by the Nigeria University Commission (NUC) years after inauguration of the academic programme in the university.
The protesting students, who blocked the main entrance of the institution were seen carrying placard with various inscriptions such as; “we are tired, accredit our faculty,” “fix Barau Dikko Hospital for our clinicals”, “this protest is the tip of the iceberg,” among many others.
One of the protesting students who spoke under anonymity said the Faculty of Medicine started since 2008/09 academic session and none of the students has gone beyond 300 levels.
He explained “we were told that Barau Dikko Hospital would be upgraded to a teaching hospital so that we can utilize it for our clinicals, but till date the level of work in the hospital is not encouraging.”
A female student of the university who identified herself as Hajiya Rabi said, “the institution has not been fair to the students”, while pointing out that the medical students of the institution are left in a state of confusion and as such want the government to take proactive measures and do all that is necessary to ensure the faculty gets the much-needed accreditation.
Another student, Mr. Alex Thompson said that he is personally pained by the attitude of the state government towards the upgrade of Barau Dikko Hospital, which he described as “irresponsible”.
According to him, “aside the students who need the hospital for their clinicals; the populace in the state also need the hospital for healthcare delivery.”
Meanwhile, the spokesperson of the Medical Students Association, Hassan Abu pleaded with the state government to rise to the occasion and save the students who have been left stranded for too long.
He told journalists that due to the fact that a set of medical students have been transferred to Uganda to complete their studies, that singular act has heightened tension among the remaining students in the university.
He therefore called on Governor Mukhtar Yero to find a lasting solution to the plight of the medical students.
Efforts by journalists to speak with the university management on this issue was frustrated by some private security personnel at the university main gate who denied them entrance to the school premises.
As at the time of filing this report, men from Kaduna state security outfit ‘Operation Yaki’ were seen keeping vigil in front of the main entrance to the institution to forestall escalation of the protest.
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