Rain leaves beds floating in PMCH surgery ward
DHANBAD: Heavy rains which lashed Dhanbad since Tuesday evening have resulted in severe water-logging at the Patliputra Medical College hospital (PMCH), flooding the surgery ward at the hospital with ankledeep water.
Since most patients in PMCH are from the economically weaker sections of society, they are forced to remain in the flooded ward. Around 20 patients who could afford to be treated at private nursing homes have gotten themselves discharged over the last three days.
Dr DP Bhadani, head of surgery at PMCH, on Friday said he was at his wits end over the fate of 50 patients who are currently critical — the water-logging at the ward makes it a horrific place to leave the patients, but a paucity of space means he has no other alternative.
“I have informed hospital superintendent about the condition of the ward and have requested him to immediately redress the situation,” he said.
Other parts of the hospital have not been spared either. The basement and some corridors are knee-deep in water, while the rain has started seeped through the ceiling of the gynaecology ward.
PMCH superintendent Dr Ranjan Pandey admitted that the water-logging has created a severe crisis in the hospital. “I have called an engineer from the building construction department and have directed him to immediately plug the seepage in the surgery ward and to repair the ceiling of the gynaecology ward,” he said.
The new PMCH building has been constructed on low land; thus different wards of the hospital get water-logged every year during the monsoons.
Additional chief secretary K Vidyasagar , who had inspected PMCH on December 6, 2015, had ordered that a new surgery ward be built above the central casualty ward to avoid it being water-logged. A rough map of the new ward was also passed in March but the proposal is yet to see light of the day.