Sanitation and Facility Issues Plague Students at Gandhi Medical College

Hyderabad:Sanitation remains a longstanding issue for students of Gandhi medical college, despite it being raised during TJUDA strikes in June. There is a terrible lack of basic washroom facilities in the college and hostels, rue students. While day scholars avoid using the ‘unclean’ and ‘unhygienic’ college washrooms, the hostellers have no other option but to manage with what is available.

A third year MBBS student from Nagarkurnool, who stays at the boys’ hostel, said "The hostel has zero facilities. I have been staying here for three years and managing in abysmal conditions," he said.

For the first and second years, five students are crammed together in one room. It is only when they enter the third year that students can opt for single rooms. All students have to use common washrooms.

"As there is no water supply in the morning, we can only take a bath in the afternoon or evening. There is no hot water provision in winters, while in summers it is a torture as rooms have no coolers or ACs. Washrooms do not have proper taps, mugs and buckets and most of their doors do not have bolts. At night, stray dogs roam around in the corridors," one hosteller said.

Similar pitiable conditions prevail in washrooms across departments and boys and girls hostels.

"Once, during an emergency, I went to the hostel washroom. Just as I opened the door, I saw a huge rat staring back at me!" a third-year girl said about a nightmarish experience.

Those apart, the girls are subject to other traumas. There are no sanitary pad dispensers or incinerators "There is only one common dustbin, which is always overflowing," a female student said.

Other complaints include lack of quality food in the hostel mess.

"All UG students go to the PG mess as they provide quality food," another student said.

"When administration is told about these conditions, their reply is that government colleges are like this only. Despite being top rankers, we have to live in such disgusting conditions, while our friends who scored less are studying in private colleges that boast of world-class facilities," a third-year student said.