Contaminated water is being supplied to the Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK), increasing the possibility of outbreak of gastro and other waterborne diseases among patients and medical staff.
An official at the hospital told PPI that there was no water treatment plant in the hospital, while the hospital’s underground ground water reservoir could not been cleansed for several months.
He said the recent monsoon showers had further aggravated the situation as sewage-mixed rainwater that remained accumulated in the hospital, mixed up with the underground water reservoir, aggravating the situation.
He said although some small filters had been installed in the water coolers those were not sufficient enough. He said patients and hospital staff were using contaminated water, while worshipers had also been compelled to use polluted water to perform prayers. He said doctors, paramedical staff and patients had also been compelled to buy mineral water from medical stores.
He said that poor patients, who could not afford to purchase mineral water, were compelled to use polluted water being supplied from the tanks.
Civil Hospital Karachi Additional Medical Superintendent Dr Abdul Qadir Siddiqui, while talking to PPI, said rainwater had mixed up with main water supply line; therefore, water supplied to OPD services got contaminated. He said that cleanliness of underground water reservoir had been completed and hoped situation would improve with supply of freshwater.
