Water shortage at Balasore Medical College leaves patients high and dry

As if shortage of beds and doctors were not enough, patients and their attendants at Fakir Mohan Medical College and Hospital in Balasore were forced to face a hard time after water supply to several departments was cut off on Tuesday.

As per reports, there was no water supply to Medicine, Trauma and Paediatrics wards in the medical college forcing the attendants to run to other departments to quench their thirst. Forget about drinking water, the situation was so dire that patients couldn’t even find water to clean themselves up in the toilet.

“We can’t find water since Tuesday afternoon. My husband is admitted here for a high fever. I can’t even find water to put a wet towel on his forehead. I can’t use the urinal for the same reason,” complained a woman attendant at the medicine ward of the hospital.

Asked about the water shortage, district Collector, Dattatraya Bhausaheb Shinde said, “The entire plumbing system including the pipes is getting revamped in the DHH in a phased manner. So when the turn of the medicine ward came up for changing pipes, the plumber cut off the water supply for the entire ward by mistake. The issue was resolved this morning and water supply to the ward has been restored.”

It is pertinent to mention here that Balasore Medical has been grappling with shortage of water supply for a long time. Not only water shortage, but mobile and two-wheeler theft is also a major concern for whoever comes to visit the medical.

A local said, “Medical authorities are completely responsible for the poor condition this medical is in. No supervision of annual maintenance has made the medical a one-man show with one security company providing guards all the time, one plumbing company always providing plumbing solutions, and so on."