Rain pain at hosp zones: Premises waterlogged, access roads battered
Times of India | 26 October 2024
Kolkata: Many hospitals remained waterlogged for hours due to the overnight downpour followed by intermittent rain, with some heavy spells throughout Friday. Attempts at pumping out the storm water took hours as the roads around were flooded too.
At SSKM Hospital, ankle- to knee-deep water accumulated around buildings, like Ronald Ross that houses several departments and patient wards and the cardiology building. It caused major inconvenience for patients, their relatives, doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers.
“Each time Harish Mukherjee Road gets waterlogged, the low lying areas on our hospital campus get inundated. Once the water receded on Harish Mukherjee Road, we could flush out the rain water,” said an official.
At Calcutta National Medical College, water entered the ground floor of the OPD building and the stretches around the emergency building were also flooded for a few hours.
“All services remained open despite the waterlogging. It was difficult to pump out the rainwater as the arterial road also remained flooded. Ultimately, we managed to clear the water after two hours,” said an official at the hospital.
Many private hospitals in and around Bypass faced a different kind of trouble. Though accumulated water receded after a short while, the condition of service roads was worsened because of potholes.
“Waterlogging was not a big issue. But the road has been battered by the rain,” said a source in a Bypass hospital.
According to a KMC roads department official, the condition of service roads has deteriorated due to consistent rain in the past few months. The civic official said the roads department was primarily responsible for repairing the entire length of the arterial road from Ultadanga to the Dhalai bridge intersection. “While we have started proper maintenance of the main thoroughfare, the service roads will be taken care of after rainwater has receded. We need to start repairing the service road near two hospitals — one behind Ruby Hospital and leading to Desun and the other near Peerless Hospital,” said an official.