Non-functional water coolers irk patients at Civil Hospital

Tribune News Service

Manav Mander

Ludhiana, May 13

The weather is getting hotter with each passing day and water is important to keep oneself hydrated amid the heat. However, patients and visitors at the Civil Hospital and Mother and Child Hospital are having a tough time as many of the water coolers are not working at the hospital and some taps — believed to have been stolen — are also missing, leaving patients high and dry in the scorching heat.

Public property being stolen from the Civil Hospital has become common and this time, the thieves have not hesitated to steal even water taps meant to provide clean water to patients and visitors. Moreover, unsanitary conditions prevail around the area where taps have been fixed for providing drinking water.

A patient at the Mother and Child Hospital, who had come to see a doctor, said when she was searching for water on the premises, she could not find any water cooler nearby. She also expressed anger at the unsanitary conditions near the ‘missing’ water taps.

“It is the duty of the government to provide clean and potable water on the hospital premises. That a basic thing like this has been ignored reflects on the importance of healthcare and good hospitals in the policymakers’ scheme of things,” she added.

Another patient, Karam Singh, who had come from Daba Road, said his search for drinking water on the Civil Hospital premises led him to the taps but the area was filthy and the water coming from the tap was very hot.

Reluctantly, he had to buy a water bottle for himself and his 10-year-old son, he added.

Sunita, another patient at the Mother and Child Hospital, said she always carries a water bottle when going out of home.

“A senior citizen who had come to see a doctor today asked for my water bottle. He said he had been searching for water for half an hour. I gave him my bottle but the abject apathy of the government towards the lack of basic amenities at the hospital is appalling to say the least. The authorities ought to course correct immediately.”

Senior Medical Officer Dr Amarjit Kaur accepted that a few water coolers in the Mother and Child Hospital were not functional. She added that construction work for the upgrade of the hospital was going on and water supply in some parts of the hospital had been stopped as a result.

Thefts of taps further compound problem

Senior Medical Officer Dr Amarjit Kaur said: “We have been facing a tough time as some unscrupulous elements keep stealing water taps from the hospital. They even cut wires of water coolers. If we install plastic taps, they break those as well.”

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