CHENNAI: For the young doctors and medical aspirants at the Madras Medical College, it is not just their career and studies keeping them up at night, but swarms of mosquitoes targeting the campus hostel, thanks to garbage, debris and water stagnation triggered by the adjacent Cooum.
The medical students shared their worries about attracting vector-borne illnesses with DT Next as they are subjected to relentless mosquito attacks.
“In the last month, four students suffered from viral fever. Though the doors and windows are closed, there is no relief from the swarming mosquitoes. We cannot spend more than a minute in the hostel campus premises,” said a student from the men’s hostel at MMC.
“As the Cooum River is located near the hostel buildings, uncleared tree waste, debris, and faulty drainage lines inside the campus add to the unhygienic conditions. Despite fogging, there is no relief from the mosquitoes,” rued another student, who stays in the women’s hostel.
“Yes, mosquito menace is a major problem and students often get ill due to poor sanitation. There are open sewer drains in the campus and there is no maintenance,” said another student from the women’s hostel.
While taking this problem to an official at the Madras Medical College, the authority said periodic steps are being taken to curtail the breeding of mosquitoes.
“To control the winged menace, larvicides are being sprayed and fogging is being done in the evenings. As an additional preventive step, students are provided free mosquito nets. Some senior students are also advised to buy mosquito nets,” the official added.