Mid-Day Impact | Nair Hospital Dental College Row: It felt like pulling teeth, say protesting students

The halted construction is restarting now. PICS/ASHISH RAJE

After months of complaints over severe overcrowding in the hostel rooms, dental students of Nair Hospital Dental College have finally received a positive response from the authorities. The issue, which students say has persisted since November 2024, gained momentum only after a recent report by mid-day highlighted their plight.

Students had alleged that as many as 10 occupants were forced to share small rooms with poor ventilation and inadequate facilities. Despite repeated verbal complaints, no concrete action had been taken earlier. However, following the media coverage, the higher authorities of the public health department have now initiated steps to ease the situation.

The current rooms also had poor ventilation

"As part of the proposed solution, additional hostel space will be made available at Haji Ali Building No 6. AMC Sharad Ughade, who conducted meetings the day after the news reports were published, has directed all concerned officials that the building works must complete without halting work for even a single day. We are yet to conduct a site visit. But since the building has 11 floors and so we are hopeful to get a minimum of 10 big rooms," said dean Dr Mala Dixit.

However, students may have to wait nearly a full year before the new accommodation becomes functional. "Though it will take a year from here to actually get better facilities, we are thankful to mid-day that at least our requests stopped falling on deaf ears and the authorities began taking some cognisance of the matter. We hope that at least our juniors will be spared from the suffering of living in such horrible conditions," said one of the students.