Antar Saha, student of English Department, Comilla University has been suffering from kidney problems since 2015. Currently, a kidney transplant requires 30-35 lakh taka. Some of this money was collected from the students of the department and university, but not all the money could be collected. He is thinking of treatment by selling the last piece of land he has.
Antar Saha said, 'I haven't arranged the full amount yet. After selling the land, I will go to India for treatment. My department and the university have helped me. But if our university had health insurance for students, I would not have been under so much financial pressure.'
There are many others like Antar Saha who are bearing the cost of treatment through students from the university. If the university had health insurance for the students then better quality treatment could have been ensured for the students.
Even after 17 years, the Comilla University administration has not taken any initiative regarding health insurance for students. If a student is sick, financial support is not available from the administration. However, the university administration and Pragati Life Insurance Limited signed a temporary life insurance contract on November 10 last year for teachers and staff.
Recently, 200 students of Comilla University were asked by google form to know whether they want to be covered by health insurance or not. Out of this 98% students have expressed their desire to be covered by health insurance.
Shanta Majumder, a student of the Finance and Banking Department, said, 'Generally, 80 percent of students studying in public universities come from middle class families. After moving away from their families, most of the students earn their own living. In such a situation, if they have any health doubts, they have to struggle to meet their expenses, so it is necessary to have health insurance for students.'
Ratul Dash, a student of Bangla department, said, 'If many people fall ill suddenly, their families may not be able to send money immediately. Again it is seen that there are many students of public universities whose families have no income, they send the tuition money to run the family but when they get sick, they become helpless. If someone is suffering from a serious disease, they go to all the departments and ask for help, but no such huge amount of money is available. So the insurance needs to be introduced.'
Among the public universities in Bangladesh, health insurance for students is available in Dhaka University and Rajshahi University. However, as the third university after DU, RU Comilla University should introduce health insurance to the students.
To know about this matter, the treasurer Professor Dr. Asaduzzaman said, 'The administration is positive in this regard and the work is ongoing. Hope the students get the good news very soon. We have received various proposals for contracts from various government and private institutions. I will decide with the concerned committee and Vice-Chancellor sir which organization can be contracted.'
When asked about this matter, Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr A F M Abdul Moyeen said, 'We are already working on it. We have already collected proposals. We will start working very soon.'
