CHENNAI: The University Grants Commission (UGC) has written a letter to higher education institutions to provide Basic Life Support (BLS) training to students, faculty and staff — in consultation with trained doctors — in order to bring down the number of deaths due to heart attacks. The UGC has also asked the institutions to disseminate Food Safety and Standards Authority of India’s (FSSAI) messaging on healthy food habits, information, and educational campaigns among students.
However, the letters have become a cause for concern for the universities as they are currently facing a shortage of manpower. “We don’t have adequate manpower to manage university affairs. How will we manage to organise all these events,” asked the V-C of a state university. The fund crunch is also an obstacle in this regard, he added.
“UGC’s job is complete once it has written the letter, but from where will we arrange the funds. It is with a lot of struggle we are managing to meet our expenses,” said an official of the University of Madras.
While acknowledging the importance of spreading awareness on healthy food habits and BLS, officials from a few other state universities stated that they will take up the matter with the state government. “These issues are important, so we will apprise the state government about the letters and based on its guidance we will chalk out further action,” one official said.