Falling ceilings, dry water taps at Omandurar hospital

CHENNAI: Patients at the government multispecialty hospital at Omandurar are forced to swallow a bitter pill with the building being plagued by a host of infrastructure problems. Several portions of the false roof ceiling have caved in, with the most recent case being late on Sunday night in the oncology department, though fortunately the mishaps have occurred mostly inside empty rooms.Staff and patients also complain of severe water shortage and irregular AC service.
“We are satisfied with treatment but face a lot of problems due to lack of drinking water and shortage of water in bathrooms,“ said an elderly cancer patient admitted in a ward.“The water in the bathrooms is contaminated and has worms in it,“ he said. The hospital management has promised to install two centralised reverse osmosis (RO) units on the 7th floor which will have a capacity of 1,000 litres per hour.“We provide drinking water only in certain areas such as ICUs and scan centres and not in general wards,“ said a senior hospital official, adding, “We did have ROs on every floor but they were misused and became dysfunc tional.“
The official also said that weekly checks on infrastructure were carried out by public works department officials. Late in April, surgeries had to be stopped for three days as the air-conditioning system failed and operation theatres had to be closed. The problem was rectified in 48 hours and surgeries are being conducted as scheduled. But some patients continue to use pedestal fans in wards as they say the AC service has been irregular.
Staff in the hospital say more funds would help solve these issues. “This construction was not meant for a hospital, so we face repeated problems,“ an employee said. “The government has to release more funds or shift the facility.“