Rain affects health care facilities in Ghaziabad

The women’s postoperative care ward at the MMG district hospital was shut down temporarily after ceiling of the ward developed leakage and dampness

Ghaziabad: The ongoing spate of rains this monsoon has posed problems for patients, as government healthcare facilities in Ghaziabad faced waterlogging on campus, while at others the patients had to be shifted to other wards.

In another instance, rainwater flooded the campus of the community health centre (CHC) at Dasna, affecting functioning of the facility. (Sakib Ali/HT Photos)

In the first instance, the women’s postoperative care ward at the MMG district hospital was shut down temporarily after ceiling of the ward developed leakage and dampness, officials said on Thursday.

“The ward in the old building suffered leakage and dampness, and about 30 patients had to be shifted to other wards. The ward is temporarily shut for now. There is a redevelopment plan for the hospital underway at a cost of ₹35 crore, and we expect that the new buildings will start functioning by the year-end,” said chief medical superintendent (MMG District Hospital) Dr Rakesh Kumar.

In another instance, rainwater flooded the campus of the community health centre (CHC) at Dasna, affecting functioning of the facility.

“The road and the drainage are on the higher side. This is why the campus got inundated at CHC, Dasna, for the past two days. The patients had a problem coming through water. We called in an earth-moving machine from the Nagar Panchayat office to unclog the drain, and a tanker was also roped in to carry the water to another location. A pump has also been deployed to flush out water. This situation we are experiencing for the first time,” said CHC’s in-charge Dr Prachi Pal.

Dasna Nagar Panchayat’s executive officer (EO) Mahesh Pratap Srivastava said that a major drain runs on the outskirts of Dasna. “This drain carries heavy discharge of industrial effluents. When the discharge is high, it affects the internal drain passing near the CHC and leads to backflow of water. We have analysed the situation and already roped in pumps and other measures to ensure that water from the CHC is flushed out at the earliest,” he added.

Ghaziabad’s chief medical officer Dr Akhilesh Mohan said they are undertaking measures and the issue will soon be resolved. “Waterlogging also ensued at CHC at Loni and we deployed pumps to flush out water. In both cases, the water did not enter the facilities,” he said, adding that he is also aware about shifting of patients from the women’s post-operative care ward.

“The MMG district hospital is a 166-bedded facility and the building is old. Under the redevelopment plan, the MMG hospital will have modern facilities and will host more than 300 beds. We are expecting that the redevelopment work will get complete by the end of this year and patients will get better facilities,” the CMO added.