Amidst the second wave of the pandemic in the country, it has now been reported that 27 faculty members of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) have succumbed to Coronavirus infection.
As per reports, the varsity had lost 10 retired and 16 serving faculty members to the pandemic in the past 20 days till yesterday. On Saturday, Dean of Faculty of Law Prof Shakil Ahmed Samdani died at Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College Hospital where he was undergoing treatment for coronavirus, who became the 17th serving faculty member to die from Covid-19 or related complications.
Before that on Friday (May 7), two faculty members had lost their lives, including Prof Shadab Ahmad Khan (58) and Prof Rafiqul Zaman Khan (55). While Professor Shadab was the Chairman of the Department of Medicine, Professor Rafiqul served as the faculty in the Department of Computer Science. Even the Vice-Chancellor of AMU, Tariq Masoor, lost his 75-year-old brother Omar Farooq to Covid-19.
Earlier on Wednesday (May 5), a 56-year old Professor named Khalid Bin Yusuf died due to the pandemic. Professor Khalid was a renowned Sanskrit scholar and the first Muslim scholar to receive a doctorate degree in Rigveda. Besides, other serving faculty members such as Prof Mohd Ali Khan (60), Prof Qazi Mohd Jamshed (55), Prof Ghuf ran Ahmad (54), Prof Kr Sajid Ali Khan (63), Dr. Mohammad Irian (62), Dr. Aziz Faisal (40), Dr Jibraeil (51), Dr Mohammad Yusuf Ansari (46), Dr Mohd Furgan Sambhali (43), Prof Syed Irian Ahmad (62), Prof Maula Bakhsh Ansari (58), Prof Ehsanullah Fahad (50), Saeed Uzzaman (51) have died due to Coronavirus-related complications.
At the same time, around 10 retired faculty members have passed away. The list included 77-year-old Professor M Mubashir, who was the first alumnus of the varsity.
16 faculty members of AMU currently undergoing treatment for Coronavirus
Meanwhile, around 16 faculty members of Aligarh Muslim University are currently undergoing treatment for Covid-19 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College (JNMC). While speaking about the matter, Vice-Chancellor Tariq Mansoor said, “I appeal to everyone to get vaccinated and follow all Covid-19 protocols.” He added that a void has been created in the varsity after their deaths.
Pahat Abrar, PR Department of AMU, noted, “This Covid has devastated families and taken away our eminent scholars. It is an epic loss for the nation.” Professor Shaheed Ali Siddiqui commented, “Virus has a tendency to mutate and if the numbers of positive cases have increased in the same pace, then the probability of the number of variants will be more which could be very dangerous. Hence, a large number of the population should get vaccinated for protection and cut off these variants.”