KARACHI: Water samples collected from the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), National Institute of Child Health (NICH) and the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) have recently been found unfit for human consumption, it emerged on Thursday.

The tests, some conducted over the last two months and the rest last week, at an NICH laboratory showed a high presence of coliform (180 per 100ml), a broad class of bacteria found in environment, including faeces.

The organisms isolated during the tests were: Escherichia coli (E.coli) and and Klebsiella spp. Both can cause a number of diseases and, according to international guidelines, coliform should not be present at all in drinking water.

“It’s like playing with public life. At least, the government should ensure provision of safe drinking water to hospitals,” said Dr Nizamul Hasan, president of the Child Aid Association, a non-governmental organisation working at the NICH, citing his recent illness after drinking tea at the hospital.

“I got these tests done after recovering from a severe cholera-like illness.

Test of the samples collected from the NICH underground tank and the taps located in the JPMC and the NICVD was repeated, but there wasn’t any change in the results,” he said.

The pipeline supplying water to these hospitals was the same and presence of these germs indicated mixing of water with sewage in the system.

Water, he pointed out, was not just used in operation theatres, but also by patients and their attendants for drinking. “This is a dangerous situation as E.coli is now getting resistant to all the known antibiotics all over the world and there can be serious problems for patients as well as their families.”

The health department, he said, was informed in writing about the matter a month ago, but apparently nothing had been done about it.

Upon contact, Dr Hamidullah Malik representing the NICVD also expressed concern over the quality of water being supplied to the hospital and said: “We had raised the matter with the cantonment authorities and the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) six months ago. It seems there is no progress (on the matter).”

The hospital, he said, had installed filter plants but supply of safe drinking water to the entire facility could not be managed from its own resources.

“Tap water is supplied to the general ward. At any given time, the hospital has 700 admitted patients whereas 500 and 1500 patients report at the emergency and outpatient departments (OPD) on a daily basis,” he explained.

To a question, he said patients were immediately treated if they reported any secondary infection.

The JPMC, like the NICVD, has small filter plants at various departments, but lacked a major facility to treat water.

“There are spots in the hospital where we don’t have filter plants and they receive water from the line. A mega filter plant is very much needed here,” said Dr Anisuddin Bhatti, JPMC executive director.

KWSB managing director Misbahuddin Farid believed that the problem might have developed due to some flaws in ‘the internal water distribution system of hospitals’.

“The same line supplies water to the Askari apartments, military establishments and some areas of Clifton. But, we haven’t received any complaints from there. Having said that, I will get the water tested,” he said, adding that nobody had contacted him over this issue.

Published in Dawn, November 18th, 2016