Garbage in an SSKM hostel. Picture by Sanat Kumar Sinha

SSKM students alleged that the clean-up ordered on Wednesday was nothing but window dressing. Nine students of the medical college are reported to be suffering from mosquito-borne diseases.

Pijush Mukherjee, an employee of SSKM’s biochemistry department, was admitted in Mackenzie ward on Thursday with dengue.

The students claimed that the situation in the hostels remained the same even a day after the clean-up was ordered. “Heaps of garbage and puddles can still be seen in our hostel. We are exposed to vector-borne diseases,” said Dipak Agarwal, a second-year MBBS student.

“The rooms have been cleaned but the garbage disposal system is faulty. Irregular sweeping results in accumulation of water outside rooms.”

Metro visited the campus on Thursday afternoon and found puddles on the roof of the nurses’ quarters and behind the hostels.

Second-year student Arshad Rauf, diagnosed with malaria, could not appear for a practical test on Thursday.

The authorities claimed the situation was under control. “The health department asked us to use funds allotted for Rogi Kalyan Samiti to buy insecticides,” said an official.

Sir Ronald Ross Memorial Malaria Clinic at SSKM, supposed to function 24 hours, is struggling with only two doctors. “There were five doctors but three were transferred in July,” said Shaktipada Roy, the in-charge of the clinic.