Patna, along with other parts of the State, received heavy rainfall on Saturday night leaving the Intensive Care Unit of a government-run hospital waterlogged and causing a flood-like situation in the labour room of another government hospital on Sunday.
At the ICU of the Nalanda Medical College and Hospital (NMCH), the second biggest government hospital in the State capital, nurses and doctors were seen wading through stagnant rainwater to provide medicine and other emergency care.
At another government hospital in Rajendra Nagar, rainwater entered the labour room causing extreme difficulty for patients, paramedics and doctors.
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The residence of Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi and a large number of private hospitals in the same neighbourhood were flooded.
Earlier in the day a major portion of Bailey Road, the main road of Patna caved in at an under-construction site due to heavy downpour. Traffic movement in the area was severely affected and it is expected to be restored only by Monday.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who visited the site of the cave-in, said, “I’ve asked officials to check the groundwater level of the area as it is also a part of the metro rail network.”
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Since Saturday afternoon the heavy downpour disrupted normal life in Patna and the nearby districts.
Schools have declared a holiday on Monday as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) bulletin warned of heavy-to-very heavy rainfall in a few places in Bihar till August 1.
Opposition fire
Meanwhile, taking a dig at pictures of fish swimming in rainwater at the government hospital, Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Tejashwi Yadav tweeted on Sunday, “Nitish Kumar’s model of development. ICU of NMCH is swimming in drain water, fishes seen in ICU. Mind you, you can’t question him as his conscience is fast asleep and snoring with BJP.”
In another tweet, he said, “Bihar’s 2nd largest Hospital NMCH has turned into an aquarium filled with drain water. Hope the JD(U) doesn’t declare this a stunt by Lord Indra. Even Lord Indra is highlighting the wrong policies followed by the government for 14 years.”