The scene at ESIC Hospital in K.K. Nagar on Monday was surreal, with knee-deep water inundating almost the entire compound.
Water had gotten into the ground floor of the buildings, and patients had to be evacuated to the first floor. Staff at the hospital said 51 patients from the labour and chest ward had been shifted on Sunday night, and that the ICU too had been moved upstairs last week. Outpatients too, had to be seen on the first floor, a doctor said.
On Monday night, the hospital could be accessed only from a side entrance and the casualty too, was on the first floor. However, confused patients who had come in did not know where to go. One young boy, who had a foot injury, had to wade through water on the ground floor and then climb a staircase to see a doctor, as the lift had been shut down. Despite the rain having stopped for several hours in the day, the hospital remained flooded. A security guard said water had not been pumped out.
Other hospitals too, faced water-logging. Global Hospitals in Perumbakkam for instance, was flooded too. Access was practically impossible for new patients, an employee said.
At Government Kilpauk Medical College, where the grounds were filled with one foot-deep water, pumps were working to drain out the water until at least 8 p.m.
However, the hospital had not been affected, said dean Dr. Narayana Babu.
“Outpatients were seen as usual, and the hostels too are all right,” he said.
