The under-construction postgraduate hostel at Patna Medical College and Hospital. Picture by Ashok Sinha

Patna, Sept. 11: There is “no room” for most of the medicos in the state’s premier health institution Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH). There is no deadline either for the completion of the construction work of a new boys’ hostel.

Sources said a multi-storeyed boys’ hostel on the hospital campus has been under construction since 2006. Public works department (PWD) is still carrying on with the snail-paced construction work for the four-storeyed building. The hostel is supposed to house the postgraduate medicos and interns.

The health hub authorities had not set any deadline for the completion of the construction of the hostel.

“No deadline was set for the PWD to complete the construction work of the boys’ hostel. Honestly, we did not anticipate that the (construction) will get so delayed,” PMCH principal Dr N.P. Yadav said.

He pointed out that it has not been possible for the PMCH authorities to figure out who exactly is respon- sible for the delay in the construction.

“Whenever, an official was contacted, he blamed someone else for the delay. They (the PWD officials) kept passing the buck, as a result of which we have not been able to understand who to blame for the present situation,” Yadav added.

With the hostel construction work still going on, most of the postgraduate students of PMCH are forced to stay outside the college. Mismanagement, encroachment and lack of provision of sufficient accommodation in the hostels have worsened the situation.

“At present, there are three hostels meant for the postgraduate doctors on the campus but most of the rooms in these hostels are occupied by squatters and unauthorised inmates. They have either passed out from the college or were never a part of the PMCH. But they have been occupying the rooms for the past several years. While we have not been allotted rooms for the past three years, the college administration is not bothered to remove the encroachers,” said a postgraduate diploma student, requesting anonymity.

He added: “There are about 650 students who study here as junior doctors or interns. Most of them are not allotted berths in the hostel despite the fact that according to the manual of a medical college, students are required to stay on the college premises.”

Another postgraduate medico said: “Even those students who managed to get rooms, are those on whom the earlier occupants took mercy. Officially, there is no documentation of rooms and there are no allotments either. So, if one wants to find a certain student in these rooms, there are no official records for assistance.”

The lucky ones, who managed to get rooms in the available hostels, are not happy either. “There is no maintenance. Moreover there is a lack of basic amenities, hygiene and security in the hostel where I stay. The rooms are damp, dingy and are full of mice. Broken walls and floors are a common sight in the hostel. Water, sanitation, electricity and food are not up to the mark,” said a junior doctor, who stays in the hostel above the outpatient department.

PMCH authorities admitted that providing hostel accommodation to a large number of undergraduate and postgraduate medicos was a major challenge. But they failed to explain why the proposed building was taking so long for completion.

“It is true that most of the postgraduate medicos have to do without hostel facility on the campus and they have to stay outside. On our part, we are doing everything to ensure that maximum benefits are provided to them but the agencies involved in the works have created a lot of problems. We have been asking the PWD to expedite the construction of the postgraduate hostel for boys, but they have not been completed so far. We will again question them in this regard,” Yadav told The Telegraph.