Patna Medical College celebrated its 90th foundation day on Wednesday amid protest by contract nurses, unpaid since November.

The unhappy staff raised the issue during the foundation day programme. “How can we indulge in celebrations when we are not being paid since long? We have not been able to pay our ward’s school fees or rent,” said Poonam Kumari, a contractual nurse.

Patna Medical College alumni and dignitaries who took part in the foundation day programme, admitted there had been fall in quality of services at the premiere medical college hospital. Ajit Bahadur Singh, head of surgery at the hospital, said: “PMCH departments are not complete in themselves. Every department has some deficiency or the other. The politicians and bureaucrats are totally responsible for this situation. Most IAS officers and politicians choose to go to private hospitals for even minor ailments. When they cannot rely on PMCH, why should the common people? First, these people should start visiting PMCH,” said Singh.

R.N. Singh, PMCH alumni and noted orthopaedic surgeon, said: “With time, any institute is further strengthened, but this is not the case with PMCH. The state government needs to strengthen infrastructure here. The government should equip PMCH with modern technologies.”   

Another famous alumni, Rajya Sabha member C.P. Thakur, said the standard of teaching at PMC had deteriorated. “The state government should stress on creating more specialised departments at PMCH so that people don’t need to visit other cities for treatment. Every day, I get at least 10 requests from people who want to get themselves checked by doctors at AIIMS Delhi. When there is already a medical college hospital in the state, why do people need to go to other cities,” he asked.

College principal S.N. Sinha talked about the soon-to-be-started projects at the college. “Very soon, the buildings of the medical college hospitals would be demolished and multi-storied buildings come up there to create more space in which more specialities can be opened. The state government would hand over the work of this project to a world-class architect. So far, things are moving smoothly,” Sinha said.

Former Kerala Governor Nikhil Kumar, who was the chief guest at the programme, talked of the college’s past glory and his past association with the medical college as he knows some of it’s doctors. “I used to know some of the doctors of this college during my college days. I aspired to become a doctor until I saw two live surgeries being performed. My ambition took a backseat after I saw an appendix removal and an eye-related surgery. In fact, I had fainted while watching the appendix surgery, while the eye surgery was no less a nightmare,” Nikhil said.