Medicos study at the Patna Medical College and Hospital library. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

Patna, June 30: Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) library boasts of a collection of over 25,000 books and journals. However, they are of little use to the students, as they cannot take the books home for studies.

Sources said the PMCH has not been issuing books to students since last year when a scam in the purchase of international medical journals worth Rs 56 lakh was reported from the library.

“Last year, during the annual financial audit, major irregularities were reported in the purchase of foreign medical journals and books. While books and journals worth Rs 56 lakh were shown to have been bought for the library, their details were not specified in the entry register. The case was subsequently handed over to the vigilance department and the investigation is still on,” a source told The Telegraph.

The source pointed out that the then librarian, who retired in July 2010, was made the main accused in the scam and no permanent librarian has joined since then, as the charge can be given only after the audit is over. “Later, a financial audit was ordered by the state health department and a committee of three senior PMCH doctors was formed to count the actual number of books. That committee has been functioning very slowly and the counting is yet to be completed,” the source said.

“Medical books are very expensive and there are hundreds of medical students who cannot afford them. We are forced to buy books from the market because we cannot get them from the library,” said a PMCH intern.

Students said that leaking ceiling, lack of Internet facilities, absence of power back-up and fans, broken desks and chairs and shoddy lavatory add to their problems.

Dharmendra Kumar, the laboratory technician from the pharmacology department, who has been given charge as librarian, admitted that students have to suffer because of the lack of facilities in the library. “We understand their plight but we cannot issue books till the finance audit is complete and books are arranged,” he said.

PMCH principal Dr N.P. Yadav told The Telegraph efforts are on to improve the condition of the library. “When I joined as college principal, the condition of library was worse. Now, we are trying to fix the problems. Regarding the books, the audit is being carried out by the state finance department and it will get over soon after which students can avail of the facility,” Yadav said.