Students question emergency measures on campus

By: Noha El Tawil                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

Students expressed their concern over safety measures on campus following two reported accidents that took place last month.

Adham Zidan, a graduate student, was covering the AUC Olympics for AUC TV on Oct. 7, when a flagpole fell and hit him while lying on the ground in front of one of the benches.

Trying to prevent the pole from falling on his chest, Zidan pushed the pole away breaking his right arm.

His colleagues took him to the AUC clinic, where he received emergency first aid. He was transferred shortly to El Salam hospital to cast his arm, Zidan said.

Zidan added that his friends informed him that the flagpoles fell twice while he was receiving his emergency treatment at the university’s clinic; nobody was hurt.

“What bothers me is the absolute negligence of the sports department, putting a very long pole carrying a heavy flag, on a very short bench without weighing it,” Zidan said.

Zidan submitted a petition to the Department of Athletics reporting the accident, which also ended up breaking his camera.

Another incident took place last month where Mona Mounir, AUC alumna, fell unconscious on Oct. 27 at 4 p.m. in the Bartlett Plaza while standing by the Book Fair.

“I didn’t know what happened exactly, until I regained my consciousness in the ambulance,” said Mounir.

Mounir was lying on the floor for around 15 minutes until the AUC clinic’s club car reached her, said Youssef Kamal, a mechanical engineering graduating senior who witnessed the incident.

Kamal added that people gathered around unconscious Mounir but no one tried to interfere.

As soon as the clinic’s club car arrived, it broke down, leaving students with the responsibility of carrying Mounir all the way to the clinic.

Kamal said students stayed there to make sure she received emergency first aid.

A student then got her father’s number and called him to inform him of his daughter’s condition.

“We reported what happened to the clinic’s director,” said Kamal.

Dr. Mohamed Amin Hussein, medical director of the AUC Clinic, said the club car had been transporting someone else, which is why it was empty of charge when it got to Mounir. Club cars use electricity to be charged rather than fuel.

There are two kinds of club cars: one for transporting people with difficulties inhibiting them from walking, and the other provides patients with a stretcher for emergency cases.

The clinic used the second one to carry Mounir.

Dr. Hussein, who has been working at the clinic for the past five years, added that Mounir received the necessary support from the nurse when she got to the clinic.

“As it was a severe case, another doctor and I gave her the emergency first aid,” said Dr. Hussein.

Mounir was then transferred to El-Nozha hospital, where the doctors said the first aid she received at the AUC clinic was enough.

Dr. Hussein previously experienced two serious cases: a concussion and a car accident near campus, both of which were treated on campus before being transferred to a hospital.

The university’s administration has not made any announcements regarding either incident.