With Oasis ‘24 right around the corner, Tanisha Bafna, the Coordinator of the Safety and Medical Advisory Council (SMAC), sat down for an interview with the Oasis English Press to discuss their functioning for the fest.
Tanisha explained that the council strived to ensure the medical safety of the general student body during the fest. This included ensuring the availability of amenities ranging from ORS, disinfectants, and bandages to ambulances, wheelchairs, and stretchers. She also emphasised the availability of female paramedics this year, something that was unavailable in the last edition of the fest. She stated that in case of a severe emergency, the council would immediately contact the ambulance, notify the paramedics, and assist them in transferring the injured to a hospital. She mentioned that the Council members were also trained in administering first-aid, including their newly recruited freshmen, since paramedics would not be present round the clock.
Regarding their pre-fest preparations, Tanisha detailed that their work involved collecting stationery from the Department of Art, Design and Publicity, medical inventory from the Medical Centre on campus, contacting the paramedics ten days prior to the fest, and coming to a mutual consensus about their working hours and budget in order to sign an MoU.
At the time of the interview, although the Council had completed most of its work, Tanisha said that they still had to schedule slots for club members to be present at their Oasis stall, and organise their medical inventory. She assured that their work was not affected greatly by the uncertainty regarding the timings of the fest this year, as the Council’s preparation begins just a few days before the fest.
One of the major challenges they faced during their preparation was persuading the paramedics to stay until 4:00 AM, whereas last year they had stayed only till 1:00 AM. This measure was taken due to the extent of injuries recorded and implemented by reserving hostel rooms on campus.
Talking about her experience as a Coordinator, Tanisha stated that coordinating with StuCCAns had been a very smooth experience. With the added advantage of being the Joint Coordinator last year, she had an idea of how everything was to be run, and found the experience to be ‘pretty great’.
On a concluding note, Tanisha stated that anyone could approach the Council’s stall in case of an emergency. She further noted that posters containing the location of their stall and contact details would be present throughout the campus during the fest.