PESHAWAR, Oct 18: Nursing students at the Khyber Teaching Hospital are getting substandard food at their hostel mess which has been causing diarrhoeal diseases to them, many students told Dawn on Thursday.

“The mess is being run by the senior nurses who takes Rs 300 per month from all the students but the food provided to the students was not up to the mark. Many students often complain of stomach-related problems for which they are rushed to the emergency department of the hospitals now and then,” said a third-year student of the Nursing School of the KTH.

According to her, more than 400 students pay Rs 300 a month for the mess.

The students say that menu is not followed at the mess and the students are provided with cheapest vegetables. The students are not provided meat, chicken, rice on any other food which is mentioned in the menu.

The students argue that the mess was previously run by the students themselves who provided better food but things have changed after the charge of the mess was taken over by a senior nurse two months ago.

Lately, the mess of old and new hostels have been merged and students have been asked to come to the old nursing hostel for mood which the students say was away from them and they should be served better food at their own hostel. They also asked the KTH administration to install gas burners like the nursing hostel of Lady Reading Hospital alongside their rooms so they could prepare their meals for themselves.