CMC main male hostel in bad shape

The main hostel for males of Chittagong Medical College is in a decrepit condition. (Inset) The doors of the bathrooms and toilets are unhinged with sanitary pipes leaking overhead.Photo: STAR

Residents of the main hostel for male students of Chittagong Medical College (CMC) are suffering immensely as the building is in a dilapidated condition with unhinged doors and leaking sanitary pipes in bathrooms and toilets among many other problems.
According to the residents, water supply to the hostel is also very poor, and there are frequent incidents of theft as well.
Sometimes water supply remains stopped for all day long, and the crisis deepens on Fridays and national holidays, they said.
Preferring anonymity, a fourth-year MBBS student said they often get wet by filthy water dripping from leaking pipes of toilets on upper floors.
The hostel consists of five blocks -- Zakir Block (A), Sadik Block (B), Jashim Block (C), East Block (D), and West Block (E).
Zakir Block and Jashim Block can accommodate 128 students each, East and West blocks can accommodate 96 students each, and Sadik Block can accommodate 120 students.
During a recent visit to the West Block, where mainly foreign students reside, The Daily Star found that its bathrooms and toilets were in a bad condition with unhinged doors, and filthy water dripping from overhead sanitary pipes.
A Sri Lankan student, preferring anonymity, said they face embarrassing situations while using the bathrooms and toilets.
"There is no door at the bathrooms and toilets adjacent to our rooms," he said.
Another fourth-year MBBS student, seeking anonymity, said many portions of Zakir Block and Sadik Block have been dilapidated too.
Window sunshades of many rooms of the blocks have been damaged, he said.
Only the walls of the hostel were whitewashed during a renovation work carried out last year, he added.
Shahidul Islam, a fifth-year MBBS student, said their clothes are frequently stolen from the corridor where they hang those from clotheslines for drying after washing.
Their mobile phone sets and other valuables are also stolen from their rooms quite often, although two security guards stay on duty in two shifts at the main entrance of the hostel round the clock.
Many students complained that they do not have any lounge or waiting room for guests, so they have to take their guests outside to sit and talk.
The hostel's main entrance is also in a bad condition. It needs to be reinstalled soon. The road to the college campus from the hostel also needs repair, they added.
Mafizur Rahman Jumma, vice-president of Chittagong Medical College Central Students Union (CMCCSU), also a representative of students at the hostel, said they submitted an application to the college authority demanding solution to the problems.
"We also demanded a waiting room, a basket ball court, and a badminton court," he said.
The college authorities, however, have taken steps to set up a deep tubewell to solve the water crisis, he said adding that the authorities also assured them of resolving all the problems step by step.
Dr Hafizul Islam, assistant professor at the biochemistry department of the college, also the hostel super, said Public Works Department (PWD), under the Ministry of Housing and Public Works, looks after the maintenance work of the hostel.
"We have written to PWD and provided to the officials of the department a list of work that needs to be done," he said adding that an engineer from PWD recently visited the hostel.
"They assured us that they will begin the repair work soon," he said.
"We can feel the problems of the students. We fully sympathise with them," he said adding, "The students are like our children. So we feel very bad for their sufferings at the hostel."
Dr Selim Mohammad Jahangir, principal of CMC, said they formed a committee to find out the problems of the hostel.
"Digging of a deep tubewell is going on now. It will be completed soon," he said adding, "We have informed PWD requesting the beginning of maintenance work as soon as possible."
"Maintenance work is a continuous process in such a big hostel," said Dr Selim adding, "PWD does the work regularly."