Students have the last laugh at Calcutta Medical College

Students of Calcutta Medical College and Hospital, Asia’s oldest medical college and one of India’s most reputed medical schools, lifted their indefinite hunger strike on the 14th day of their agitation after a college council meeting on July 23 decided to fulfil their demands and accommodate the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th year students in two floors of a new 11-floor hostel.

Six students of the college started an indefinite hunger strike on July 10, demanding open and transparent hostel allocation and appointment of hostel superintendents in tune with Medical Council of India regulations. The students alleged that first year students were being kept completely isolated in the new building and the new superintendent’s appointment was completely out of turn. They alleged the new superintendent was a known Trinamool Congress leader. They also demanded renovation of their old hostels, situated on Eden street which has been in a dilapidated and unhygienic condition for many years now.

When National Herald visited the premise, there was a heap of garbage near the entrance of the hostel. Ceilings of some rooms were broken and leakages were all over from where water droplets were seeping into the rooms. The toilets were nightmarish with broken pans and commodes and dirty washbasins. The students told National Herald that after 2011, the number of seats for MBBS was increased to 250 from 155. But there was no new hostel or accommodation for the extra 95 students and the old hostels have become completely uninhabitable. The students had gone to the principal repeatedly for him to address their problems. Each time, they were told that their problems would be solved soon after the building of the new 11-storied hostel. But the students took the extreme step after college authorities said that only 1st year students would be allotted rooms in the new hostel.

The hunger strike was initially started by six students on July 10 and 15 others joined on July 19. Three of them fell seriously ill and one of them, Debashis Barman, had been admitted to the hospital in the evening of July 21 with rashes and high fever. However, he was discharged on July 23 and joined his friends in celebrating their victory

The Director of Medical Education (DME), Debashis Bhattacharya, gave a statement on July 22 which stated that “I further assure the students that appropriate measures are being taken to improve and renovate hostel rooms.” He also requested the students to withdraw the hunger strike. But the students refused to do so in the absence of a written order.

It is really disappointing that the authorities did not map any proper seat matrix and no one came to supervise the condition of the hostel for the last three years. At last, on July 21, a team appointed by the college authority went there to visit to draw up a proper seat matrix. The officiating principal, Ashok Bhadra, said that he has requested the DME for a solution. He took the charge of principal after R Sinha, who had taken charge as acting principal when Uchhal Bhadra fell sick in his office and was admitted to SSKM hospital, resigned on July 20. On the evening of the same day, the principal said that they had no problems in accepting the students’ demands but that they were helpless without order from higher authorities, an euphemism for the ruling party. Many observers in the state feel that the indifferent attitude of this ‘higher authority’ turned a small matter into a 14-day hunger strike.

On July 22, the students, supporting the stir, held a convention in the lecture theatre of the college. Hundreds of people from all walks of life including singers, actors and writers took part in the same. After the convention, a rally was held in the city’s College Square area with a gathering of almost 1000 people expressing their solidarity with the students’ cause.

What was peculiar about this students’ stir was the apathy of the local and vernacular media. Barring a few, very few carried any reports on the same till it snowballed into a social media talking point in the last three to four days of the stir. Many felt the media in the state was completely under the thumb of the ruling party. This was a classic example of a non-aligned students’ movement, without the active support from any political party of significance, forcing the hands of the authorities to accept their demands.