The patients and their caretakers visiting the associated hospital of the Doon Medical College (DMC) are at risk of getting ill by drinking water which is made available by the hospital authorities. In the absence of annual maintenance contract (AMC), the water purifiers installed in the hospital have not been serviced for the last 15 months.
There are ten water purifiers and coolers in the campus of the biggest hospital of the State but delay in budget and transfer of the hospital from the medical health department to the medical education department has ensured that the hospital has failed to renew the AMC of these water purifiers. The hospital authorities admitted that these purifiers were last serviced in March 2015 but added that the overhead water tanks are regularly cleaned and water is chlorinated.
An expert in water purifying devices and Director of Sri Sai Sales Nehru Colony, Arpit Jain told The Pioneer that filters of water purifiers are needed to be changed after output of 8,000 liters of water which means that the hospital should ideally change the filters in every three or four month.
“It is really shocking that the water purifiers of the hospital are not serviced from last 15 months. One should avoid drinking water from these systems as risk of water borne diseases and kidney stones is really high by consuming such water due to presence of bacteria and high PH number,’’ he said.
The head of the pathology department of the hospital Dr NK Mishra informed that diseases like Diarrhea, Typhoid, Dysentery, Jaundice and Hepatitis are caused by consumption of impure water. Apart from being not serviced most of these water purifiers and coolers are in a dilapidated conditions and the area around them is also unhygienic (see picture).
Due to lack of sanitation around them many patients and their caretakers prefer to use bottled water or carry water from homes. “It is disgusting that pure water is not being served in the hospital. One comes to the hospital to get free from the diseases but it appears that healthy people too would catch illness here by consuming this water,’’ said Anil Rawat a resident of D l Road. In search of pure water many of the relatives of the in house patients venture into the Indira Amma Canteen situated in the campus. “We offer RO water to the customers but many of them also fill bottles which is problematic for us. We have even placed a request that one should not fill bottles but very few follow the advice’’ said the administrator of the canteen.
In such a scenario the vendors selling bottled water are the happiest lot. One such vendor disclosed that the sale of bottled water in the hospital is very high.
When contacted, the Medical Superintendent (MS) of the hospital KK Tamta accepted that the AMC of these water purifiers could not be renewed but quickly added that the hospital takes all the care to provide pure water. He claimed that the water purifiers are coolers are regularly cleaned by the hospital staff.