Underground water tanks and overhead reservoirs in public sector hospitals of Karachi are not properly cleaned for the last several months by the administrations and visiting patients are compelled to drink contaminated water in healthcares, it was learned on Thursday.
The overhead tanks and underground reservoirs in Jinnah Hospital Karachi, Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, Civil Hospital Karachi, Services Hospital Karachi, National Institute of Child Health, National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases and others have not been maintained and cleaned for the last several months due to apathy and slackness of heads of those healthcare institutions.
An official at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center told PPI that underground water reservoirs of healthcare had not been cleaned by the hospital administration and the visiting patients had no option but to drink polluted water.
He informed that over 4,000 patients from Karachi, interior Sindh and Balochistan province visit different OPDs of the hospitals in the city but they and their attendants were deprived of clean drinking water. He said although hospital administration had established an RO plant to ensure provision of clean water to patients and staff but one plant was not enough for hundreds of patients. He said patients and their attendants were using mineral water to avoid water-borne diseases. He said contaminated water was also being supplied to various departments of the institution.
Similarly, the underground water tank in Civil Hospital Karachi has also not been maintained by the administration. A doctor of the hospital, who wished not be named, revealed that consumption of contaminated and polluted water could develop water-borne diseases among patients and their attendants.
He demanded of the provincial health department and KMC authorities to ensure cleanliness of underground water reservoirs and overhead tanks after every three month in public sector hospitals to prevent patients from contracting various diseases.
Focal Person of Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center, Dr Jawaid Akhter Jamali, while talking to PPI, said that chemical cleanliness of main water reservoir of the hospital was carried out annually, while another RO plant was also being installed in the institution to ensure provision of clean water to patients and employees.
