The bad state of hygiene of Stanley Medical College Hospital, a premier state Government-run institute, has come under scanner after 18 students staying on its campus took ill and one of the students, a native of Rajasthan, died on Thursday due to suspected viral encephalitis (an airborne infection). The incident sent panic waves across the campus with authorities declaring a 10-day holiday and the state Health Minister KKSSR Ramachandran ordering demolition and reconstruction of four hostel blocks for the first time in the college’s 70-year-old history. The Minister has also sanctioned Rs 25 crore for the purpose.Last week, 18 students were hospitalised with fever and headache. Two of them tested positive for dengue and one was a confirmed case of leptospirosis. Garima Pradhan, a house surgeon, was later declared brain dead and rushed to a private hospital. She died on Thursday.Following Pradhan’s death, students gheraoed the office of college Dean Dr Mythili Baskaran and demanded that immediate steps be taken to handle a possible endemic. They said piling of garbage, lack of proper sanitation and unhygienic conditions are possible reasons for students taking ill. Students and doctors also accused the agency, to which sanitary work had been outsourced, of failing to execute the task properly.The decades-old hostel buildings, they said, were in a dilapidated condition with cracks and leaks all over. The toilets were not properly cleaned and drainage leaks led to an unbearable stench, while puddles became breeding pools for mosquitoes, they alleged. Students also said that complaints made earlier mostly went unheeded.While admitting that the campus was ill-maintained, Ramachandran and Baskaran both insisted that the unhygienic condition may not have been a reason for the students taking ill. However, a public health official reportedly said all the 18 cases were a result of “hospital-acquired infection”. Ramachandran also directed the deans of all the Government medical colleges in Chennai to submit reports on the sanitation and hygiene conditions on their campuses. The students of all the three medical colleges were also given preventive antibiotics. Meanwhile, the PMK, an ally of the ruling DMK, demanded a status report on the condition of students’ hostel of Stanley Medical College. The party alleged that “facilities had deteriorated over the years and little have been done to improve even the basic sanitation”.
