CHENNAI: Water scarcity in the city has hit doctors — the keepers of health and hygiene. The Madras Medical College in the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital saw an unusual scene of doctors protesting for water early on Saturday morning. “Imagine a situation where doctors who are attending to patients have not had a bath. Sadly, we were buying mineral water bottles to brush and wash before leaving for work,” said Dr Prasad, a postgraduate student staying at one of the hostels.
Hostel-bound doctors pursuing their postgraduate courses have been challenged with water scarcity on campus for more than three months. “Earlier, we used to get water for about two hours a day, but for past three days, we didn’t get even a single drop,” Dr Salim, an MD student and practitioner, said, adding that the situation pushed them into protesting.
“There are five hostels, and for the last two days, we had water coming from just the one near the old Central Jail,” said Dr Vishnu, adding that the water smelled so bad that they could not use it for brushing. Water scarcity is an addition to the list of other problems such as poor maintenance of hostels and broken infrastructure, according to the protesters. The protest came to an end after four hours, when the management promised water supply within 24 hours. It also promised that a borewell would be set up within 15 days.