Chennai: Forced to shift to collapsed hostel building, allege ESIC med college students

CHENNAI: Third-year MBBS students of ESIC Medical College in KK Nagar have raised concerns about their safety after being pressured to return to a partially collapsed hostel building.

The internal sources allege that despite visible structural damage and persistent safety hazards, the management and senior students are insisting that they move back to the old building, where a portion of a room on the fourth floor collapsed in May 2025. Fortunately, no injuries were reported during the incident as the room was unoccupied at the time.

Following the collapse, over 20 third-year students were relocated to a nearby building, which has single room accommodation. It is to be noted that the old building, which is damaged now, had triple-sharing accommodation.

Now, with model exams under way, it is alleged that third-year students are being coerced by the fourth-year seniors to vacate the temporary space and return to the third floor of the damaged building where the seniors are currently residing. “The seniors want to occupy the single rooms where the third-year students are currently residing, which is the interns' hostel. Thus, the seniors are harassing the juniors to shift during the exams. It's not just creating unnecessary anxiety but also poses safety risks,” said one source from the college.

Further expressing their fears, students reported that a section of the ceiling in the third-floor washroom has also collapsed recently. The fourth-floor rooms of the original building, in which they were staying earlier, collapsed in May. However, it remains unrepaired and visibly damaged, serving as a grim reminder of the risks involved.

Students say that despite repeated requests, the college management has not provided any safety assurance and no structural safety certificates are available for the old building. “The students are being asked to move back into a building that clearly isn't safe. Nothing has been done to fix the damage or reassure that the structure is secure,” added the source.

An official attached to the hospital management denied the complaint and said, “The engineers, along with the dean, medical superintendent, have inspected the rooms where the students are planned to be shifted. The decision has been taken only after the inspection.”