Sewerage water enters NICVD premises

Hospital management says this isn't the first time they are facing the issue

KARACHI: Sewerage water entered the premises of the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD), one of the largest health facilities in the province.

The sewerage water accumulated on Rafiqui Shaheed Road on Wednesday caused difficulties for commuters, patients and ambulances making their way to the National Institute of Child Health, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre and the Kidney Center.

"I was surprised to see the overflow of sewerage water that has entered the hospital premises," said Executive Director NICVD Prof Nadeem Qamar. He said that the water entered the hospital on Tuesday.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Qamar denied reports that the water was pumped out from the NICVD in the wake of the monsoon downpour. "The water is not coming out from the hospital," he added. "It's coming in from the outside," he added.

"This isn't the first time this has happened," said Qamar. "We have been facing this issue for a long time." He said that most of the time, the hospital used its resources to clean the sewerage. "It's not our job to clean it, but that of the civic bodies."

On the other, Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) Managing Director Asadullah Khan said that the water on Rafiqui Shaheed Road was rainwater that had earlier accumulated in the NICVD. He said that the contractor of the under-construction building of the NICVD had pumped the rainwater onto the main road without informing the KWSB. He said that his staff was tasked to clean the rainwater immediately.

Interestingly, Sindh Minister for Local Government Syed Nasir Hussain Shah, who was visiting the area, said that a case will be registered against the persons responsible for throwing the water outside the hospital premises. 

Published in The Express Tribune, August 22^nd, 2019.