Kasaragod: Nursing students at the Kasaragod Government Medical College at Ukkinadka in Badiadka panchayat boycotted classes on Friday, demanding inclusion in the new student hostel set to open on the campus.
The protest comes amid growing anger over what students describe as an attempt to exclude nursing students from hostel facilities despite studying on the same campus for the past three years.
Students said the only hostel completed so far on the 67-acre medical college campus is meant for female MBBS students. Construction of the men’s hostel has not yet begun.
The nursing college itself remains largely on paper. The proposed nursing college building, to be constructed on three acres within the campus, has not yet been started, and students said even the land earmarked for it has not been formally demarcated.
At present, nursing classes are being conducted from the administrative block of the medical college, the same building where MBBS classes are also functioning. The main academic block of the medical college is still incomplete, as is the hospital block.
Students argued that despite repeated government assurances that nursing students would also be entitled to use medical college facilities, they continue to be excluded from key infrastructure, including hostel accommodation.
Many nursing students currently stay in rented accommodation outside the campus along the interstate highway. Students, including women, said they were facing serious safety concerns while living alone in scattered private lodgings. To be sure, the medical college campus is located in a secluded area with barely any shops, businesses or lodging facilities in the vicinity.
They also pointed out that the medical college campus and surrounding areas have a severe snake menace. Since hostel facilities are unavailable, students are often forced to step out at night for food and essentials. Protesters claimed several students had already suffered snakebite incidents.
Students further alleged that a severe faculty shortage was affecting academic support. Against a requirement of 18 teachers, only four faculty members are currently available, they said.
The protesters asked why temporary hostel arrangements could not be made here when nursing students in other medical colleges in Kerala are provided accommodation facilities.
The Joint Action Committee warned that if nursing students are not accommodated from the day the new hostel becomes operational, they would launch an indefinite strike and blockade protest next month.
Union chairman Jithin, Kerala BSc Nursing Students’ Association (KBNSA) president Amjad Ali Khan, secretary Haniya, state treasurer Adheena, Student Nurses’ Association (SNA) chairperson Adithyan and secretary Sandra addressed the protest.
