Surgery skip for water shortage

RAJEEV RAVIDAS, TT, Kalimpong, Oct. 1: The subdivisional hospital could not conduct any surgery after 1pm today because of water crisis and relatives of patients had to fetch water from outside so that they could use toilets.

The hospital has got 2,000 litre of water in the past 10 days when it needs about 50,000 litre.

The town has been facing water shortage since September 22. Kalimpong needs about 10 lakh gallons of water a day. About 7,500 houses get water for about 30 minutes every second or third day. The remaining of the 1 lakh-odd people of Kalimpong and nearby areas depend on natural sources.

"In the past nine days, we got water for only two days. If we do not get water by today, we will not be able to conduct any surgery," said S. Ali, acting superintendent of the hospital. A couple of surgeries were conducted today.

Usually, the hospital conducts six-seven major and about 15 minor surgeries daily.

Rajen Pradhan, superintendent of the PHE department, said: "We are confident that we can restore the supply by 3am tomorrow. We plan to supply water for the entire day."

In a nice gesture, the today "Twelve jeeps ferried 1,000 litres each to the hospital. We learnt about the problem in the morning and decided to extend helpour helping hand," said Binod Moktan, president of the association.

who is rom Rango, which 150km from here, Patients said the crisis is so acute that they have had to fetch water from outside to even use the toilet. When we complained to the hospital staff, they pleaded helplessness," said Ajit Bhujel, a patient who is from Rango, which about 150km from here.

Another patient, Dig Bahadur Bhujel, who has been admitted with a broken leg, said the hospital staff members were is unable to put a plaster plaster cast on his leg because of non-availability of water.

Around 250 people are admitted to the hospital.