New Delhi,  The paramedical students of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) staged a protest here on Saturday against the hospital administration following the death of one Optometry student.

The agitating students claimed that the death was caused due to the negligence of the hospital administration.

The students said that had the authorities provided them hostel within the hospital premises, the student's life could have been saved.

The deceased, Abhishek Malviya, was a first year student of Optometry. Three days back, he complained of suffocation and breathing issues. When his friends asked for help, the hospital authorities reportedly denied an ambulance, stating that Malviya was not a hostelier and such services are not supposed to be extended to students residing outside the hospital campus.

It took 2-3 hours for Malviya to reach the AIIMS emergency, where he was declared critical following which he was shifted to the new private ward of the hospital. He was later diagnosed with H1N1 (influenza) and his lungs function collapsed when he was placed on ECMO.

"When the doctors declared him dead the next morning, they said he was having multiple lungs infections, including influenza, Covid-19 and bacterial infections. He was on ECMO for artificial lungs activity," the Optometry Students' Association of AIIMS said in a statement.

Each year, AIIMS conducts entrance test for paramedical UG courses wherein the Optometry has a major seat share. But since the 2020 batch, the hospital started denying basic UG facilities like hostel accommodation to paramedical UG students on the ground of lacking hostels for MBBS students, the association said.

"Had there been hostels for us, Malviya would have survived. It all happened because of AIIMS administration's negligence, and it can happen to others in the future as well," said the statement.

"We want assurance of hostel accommodation from AIIMS administration so that such tragic incidents don't occur again in the future," it added.