Safdarjung students threaten mass strike

Dysfunctional air-conditioners forced the administration of Safdarjung Hospital’s Vardhaman Mahavir Medical College (VMMC) to suspend classes from April 23 to 30.

Dysfunctional air-conditioners forced the administration of Safdarjung Hospital’s Vardhaman Mahavir Medical College (VMMC) to suspend classes from April 23 to 30.

HT Image

But more than 500 students of the medical institute are now complaining that no infrastructure renovation was carried out in the period and have threatened to go on a mass strike from Monday.

The resident doctors are also likely to join the strike, paralysing patient services, if the administration fails to break the deadlock by Wednesday.

Classes haven’t been held at the institute for the last 10 days.

“The issue is not limited to non-functional air conditioners,” said a student, unwilling to be quoted. “The elevators also haven’t functioned for the last one year, causing inconvenience to not just students and teachers but also patients.”

The institute building has a centralised water purifier, which has allegedly been out-of-order for the last 1.5 years.

“At least 10 students were down with jaundice last week after consuming unpurified water," said another student.

“The toilets are extremely unhygienic as pipes are not connected to the outlet creating a lot of nuisance," he said.

Jagdish Prasad, director, Safdarjung Hospital did not take any calls despite repeated attempts.

VMMC Principal V.K. Sharma denied any knowledge of the students threatening to go on strike. “There is nothing of this kind,” he said refusing to comment any further.

Even the teachers complained of crumbling infrastructure but were unwilling to come on record.