Hung out to dry: Nonfunctional tube wells paralyse Services Hospital

Water becomes a scarce commodity, operations and OPDs affected

LAHORE: Water was a scarce commodity at the Services Hospital on Thursday as four of five tube wells went out of order, affecting operations and the medical OPDs.

A week earlier, a letter was reportedly sent to the Services Hospital medical superintendent and Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) director, briefing them about the nonfunctional machinery. Seven days later, no action has been taken to rectify the matter. The letter stated that water pumping machines stopped working due to the gathering of sand particles in the bearing stratums. Therefore, the tube wells’ suctions pumps were not powerful enough to lift the water to the reservoirs.

The document also stated that the water pumping machines of two other tube wells were also completely out of order and asked that they be replaced.

Young Doctors Association (YDA) President Dr Atif Majeed told The Express Tribune that doctors were at risk of contracting diseases as there was not enough water to sterilise the medical equipment.

“We had to stop procedures several times in the operation theater (OT) due to the lack of water,” he said. He added that the health department and administration of the hospital had been repeatedly requested to repair the tube wells’ water pumping motors.

“On a daily basis, doctors conduct at least 1,000 operation procedures of different kinds, while 2,000 patients are treated at the OPD. One can only imagine the difficulty in managing such a huge facility without water,” he added. He said the five tube wells had been installed several years ago, but four out of them have stopped working due to the lack of maintenance.

He commented that if the last one went out of order, a disastrous situation would emerge at the hospital “The administration must fix the tube well motors as soon as possible,” he stressed.

Services Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Ameer Ahmed, while talking to The Express Tribune, claimed that one of the tube wells was fixed immediately after the issue was brought to the attention of the administration. He added two tube wells were now in running order.  He claimed that there was no shortage of water at the Services Hospital and operation procedures were continuing efficiently.

Replying to a question, the MS said tenders had been issued to fix the other tube wells and he hoped these would start working soon.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 19^th, 2017.