NEW DELHI, June 23: Admissions open at the Tibia Ayurvedic and Unani Medicine College, Delhi University, tomorrow. Last year there were around 800 applicants for the 80 seats available in this college. But, both the students and staff are worried that the declining standards of the institute will soon affect the quality and number of students applying.``We average 700 applications every year,'' says Dr J.V.K. Taneja, acting principal of the college. ``In the Ayurvedic stream our cut-offs were as high as 85 per cent. In the Unani stream the cut-offs are slightly lower because Urdu as a language in school is a compulsory pre-requisite. A number of students who join our course also apply for MBBS and if they get through, they leave.''What is more worrying than the students ``defecting'' at the last minute is the dissatisfaction amongst those already enrolled in the course. ``I joined the college because I was genuinely interested in medicine. Now, into my second year here, I am not so sure I made the right choice,'' says Rashid Fakhri, a student of Unani medicine. Even as a new batch of students look for admission here, those doing the course are worried about their employment options after the five-and-a-half year course is over. Currently, the only establishments that run alternative medicine dispensaries are the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, the New Delhi Municipal Corporation and Central Government Health Services. The fourth option is the teaching profession and seems to be the most underutilised in the college itself.According to sources, for the last 10 years there have been no major appointments made. There are 29 teachers in the college, 17 short of the sanctioned number. As a result, the 29 teachers working at the college double up as administrators and doctors.Moreover, the sprawling campus with the Mughal architecture is falling apart, brick by brick.``There is no room in this building where you can sit during the monsoons and not get wet,'' says a teacher of the college. ``There is seepage everywhere and some of the hostel blocks have been closed because they were declared unsafe.''The operation theatre on campus, which is said to be the oldest in the city, has been lying shut since the last 10 years. Today, it is only opened if a minor surgery has to be conducted. For the students of Unani and Ayurvedic medicine this means limited practical knowledge of the subject.In fact, they often go to the Deen Dayal Upadhyay hospital for practical training. One block in the men's hostel has been demolished and another closed. The hospital run in the campus has dark corners with broken furniture and unused rooms.According to teachers, the root of all the college problems is fund allocation. Last year, the annual budget for the college was Rs 1.65 crore. ``This allocation is meant for both the Unani and Ayurvedic streams,'' says a teacher. ``It is impossible to run the college with that amount. We have not had a proper supply of medicine for years now. Despite the fact that there is a reasonable demand for this course, the supporting facilities are lacking.''``With an increasing number of people turning to alternative medicine, the condition this college is in is really pathetic,'' says Mohammed Zaffar, a final year Unani medicine student. But, with the Delhi Government taking over the college from May 1, everybody is hoping for some improvement in this 100-year-old institution, which was once a premier institution for alternative medicine studies in the country.
