HYDERABAD, Feb 26: The Civil Hospital of Hyderabad has been facing acute shortage of water for more than 15 days which has created problems for patients, their attendants and the hospital administration.

Hospital sources told this correspondent that the water shortage had also affected working of different wards, including labour room, gynaecology ward, operation theatres and outdoor patient departments.

The matter had been reported to the Water and Sanitation Agency of the Hyderabad Development Authority but it seemed least concerned about the plight of patients and attendants as there had been no response from it, the sources further said.

According to Wasa managing-director Tahir Ahmad, the CHH received water supply from the Hyderabad Cantonment Board. Wasa provided water to the cantonment board in bulk quantity which was subsequently supplied to the hospital.

However, the secretary for the cantonment board denied that it had any concern with provision of water to the CHH. He said the cantonment board provided water to areas falling in its jurisdiction and not to areas located in the municipal corporation limits.

A hospital source said whenever the hospital medical superintendent contacted the Hyderabad Development Authority officials, they assured him that there would be no disruption in water supply. But they said there had been no improvement in the supply of water.

The non-availability of water has been causing great inconvenience to the patients and attendants as the latter can not also fetch water, even for drinking purpose, from nearby hotels or medical stores since the area seems to be in the grip of water shortage.

While a very negligible number of the patients and attendants can afford mineral water, it is beyond the reach of a majority of them, belonging to the poor class.

Staff members of different wards are helpless when patients and their attendants complain of non-availability of water in wards and lavatories. It could not be ascertained what had caused suspension of water supply to the biggest hospital of the defunct Hyderabad division, which caters to medical needs of millions of people of central and lower Sindh.

The hospital administration has checked the water supply system and found that the Wasa lines of water supply have gone dry. No Wasa official could be contacted for comment.

However, the hospital has recently succeeded to get some water through tanker service of the taluka municipal administration but the water supplied is not enough to meet the requirement.

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