“We don’t have water even to clean the blood stains in our hands,” said a paramedical staff of the emergency ward at the Hassan Institute of Medical Sciences (HIMS) here, even as he was busy treating a boy, who had come to the hospital with serious injuries owing to an accident. “We have been facing this problem for several days in the hospital,” he said refusing to mention his name.
The hospital staff, patients and their caretakers are fed up with the water scarcity problem in the hospital. The staff members have been putting pressure on the senior officials to address the problem and the latter are putting the blame on the Hassan City Municipal Council. The patients and their caretakers have been bringing drinking water from outside.
S. Shankar, Medical Superintendent, told The Hindu that there was a problem with the supply of water. “We have been urging the CMC to supply adequate water. Sometimes, they listen to us and many times, they do not,” he said. Asked if surgeries were getting disturbed because of water problem, he said the hospital was managing it by getting water through tankers, whenever required. “We have neither stopped nor postponed surgeries because of water problem,” Dr. Shankar said.
The HIMS recently paid Rs. 1.5 crore water tax, which was pending for several years.
The CMC has denied the charge that it was responsible for the water scarcity problem in HIMS. V.H. Krishnamurthy, CMC Commissioner, said adequate quantity of water was being made available to the hospital. “The water is being used for the hostel and staff quarters from the connection that is meant for the hospital. They should get additional connections for hostel and staff quarters to mitigate the problem,” he said.
Senior officials of the hospital blame City Municipal Council for water problem
Recently, HIMS cleared total outstanding water tax amounting to Rs. 1.5 crore
