KOCHI: Despite the pressure of assignments and exams, a group of students have decided to take time out of their hectic academic schedule to make their campus healthy. 'Heal-thy campus', an initiative by the college union of the Government Medical College in Kozhikode, is an attempt to promote the idea of healthy living on campus.
Inspired by the book ‘Heal-thy India’ by P K Sasidharan, who is a medical practitioner and author, apart from being a retired professor and head of the Department of Internal Medicine at the Medical College, the students decided to set up the campaign with his guidance and leadership.
“Students use motorbikes to travel even small distances from their hostel to college”, says Mohammed Asif, a third-year student of the Medical College who is also the secretary of Heal-thy campus. “The distribution of cycles encourages many other students to use it whenever they want to travel within the campus and also for short trips,” he said. Keeping in mind the fact that it is important to treat the problem rather than the symptom, the students have already introduced four projects – Creating a drug-free campus, encouraging exercise by the distribution of cycles, cleaning the campus and ensuring a balanced diet at the hostel mess.
Among all the four projects that they are aiming to achieve, their maximum focus is on ensuring a drug-free environment in the campus. The project is an attempt to bring down the increasing number of students who get influenced by drugs every day. It aims at ensuring a healthy nation for now and the coming generations. Thousands of people walk in and out of the campus every day. From restrooms and cafeterias to dormitories and classrooms, these facilities are used daily by the students and staff of the campus. Keeping this in mind, it is important to encourage the idea of a clean campus to students for their personal health requirements.
“As doctors of the future, it is our responsibility to look into such matters. We need more doctors who will make an attempt to look into the aspect of a healthy environment rather than just treating patients,” said Asif.