Bihar: Gaya Medical College a site of open defecation

Gaya: The Anugrah Narayan Magadh Medical College and Hospital's (ANMMCH) sprawling campus has become an open air place for defecation and urination, in the absence of proper sanitation, drainage and sewage systems being available on campus. Outdoor patients and attendants are often seen easing themselves in the open. The Sulabh Shuachalaya unit on the hospital premises is non functional, as well, due to the sewage and drainage mishaps.

The open defecation is an invitation for pigs of the surrounding slums making the hospital premises shamefully unhygienic.

Dr S K Sinha, Hospital Superintendent, holds the poor drainage and sewage of the hospital responsible for out patients and attendants of patients- defecating in the open.

"Even the 'Sulabh Shauchalaya' unit on the hospital premises has been rendered non-functional due to the sewage problem," he added. He held the agencies concerned responsible for the hospital's poor maintenance and upkeep.

With sewage and drainage both being an issue with the hospital, the hostels accommodation for both boys and girls at the college hospital have also been affected. Though the students don't defecate in the open, the stinking toilets and overflowing drains are a perpetual problem, making things hard for them.

The students who had an interaction with senior government officials of the city, including Divisional Commissioner, Liyan Kunga and D.M. Kumar Ravi a few months ago, highlighted their complaints. However, four months have passed and the conditions remain much the same, with roofs leaking, toilets exuding stench and drains overflowing.

The sanitation job being an outsourced facility, the hospital authorities have little control over the employees hired for the job. The Divisional Commissioner, who came visiting last Monday, for the second time, after four months, found the situation much the same. He however remained unavailable for comment to the media.

The footfall at ANMMCH largely belongs to Chatra and Koderma districts of Jharkhand .