Kerala - Pathanamthitta   

Water scarcity at district hospital

– Photo: Leju Kamal

Tough time: A woman collects drinking water from a tank on the District Hospital premises at Kozhencherry on Saturday.

PATHANAMTHITTA: The Kerala Water Authority (KWA) has suspended pumping of water to the storage tank at the District Hospital in Kozhencherry since Monday on grounds that the 50,000-litre storage tank is unfit for use following detection of cracks on its concrete piers.

Hospital Superintendent V.S. Vinod told The Hindu that the matter had been taken up with the district panchayat, District Collector and the District Medical Officer. He said the KWA had agreed to supply water to the pipeline network at the hospital complex on a temporary basis till alternative arrangements were made.

However, neither the KWA nor the district panchayat, which is supposed to ensure proper upkeep of the district hospital, has taken any effective steps to make alternative arrangements for supply of water to the healthcare centre.

Though the hospital authorities managed to draw water in synthetic tanks from the two wells on the hospital premises and the neighbouring residential compounds during the past few days, it was not sufficient to meet the needs of the nearly 250 inpatients and their helpers.

The functioning of the operation theatre and the casualty wing was hit on Friday on account of water scarcity. Doctors have decided not to perform any major surgery from Monday, if the situation continued to be the same.

A section of inpatients and their helpers expressed strong protest against the alleged indifferent attitude of the hospital authorities towards their basic needs.

Though the KWA has supplied a few synthetic tanks to store water on the hospital premises, no steps have been taken to supply water to the hospital complex, alleged a hospital staff.

The hospital premises has become unclean and unhygienic with stench emanating from the toilets.

According to official sources, about 1,100 patients visit the out-patient wing of the District Hospital every day.

Denying basic needs to the patients and leaving the hospital unclean and unhygienic amounted to gross violation of human rights, alleged Thomas P. Thomas, academic and environmentalist.

The local people have warned of an agitation if the Health authorities and the district panchayat failed to address the issues facing the hospital on an emergency basis.

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