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Lack of sanitation vexes patients at hospital

— Photo: T. Singaravelou

CRYING FOR ATTENTION: Water flows from the toilets leaving a slippery surface at the outpatient department of Indira Gandhi Government General Hospital and Post-graduate Institute in Puducherry.

PUDUCHERRY: While thousands of patients throng the Indira Gandhi Government General Hospital and Postgraduate Institute every day, basic sanitation facilities offer a poor picture causing inconvenience to the patients.

A number of toilets at the Out Patient Department (OPD) of the hospital are in a bad shape with poor maintenance for sometime now. On an average, the hospital receives around 4,000 outpatients every day.

In many places, water has over flown from the toilets leaving a slippery surface outside. Several patients, especially elderly persons, struggle their way through the sheet of water. Even the floor near the OPD ticket counter of the hospital was covered with water from the toilets. “The toilets here are badly maintained. The condition of the toilets is so horrible that it cannot be used but we have no other choice,” a patient at the OPD said.

As a result of poor maintenance, heavy stench filled the OPD throughout the day putting the patients into hardship. “The toilets here are possible sources of infection. Almost all the toilets in the ground floor are dirty,” a relative of another patient said.

Except for the toilets in the ground floor, a number of toilets on the first and second floors are closed to the public. “Thousands of patients along with their relatives come to the hospital every day. So, maintenance of toilets is a problem. We have deputed workers for the maintenance of the toilets,” he added.

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