Pics: Ramesh Pandith
Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (SHS)

Mangalore, Jun 27: The foul smell emanating from underneath the passage that connects the in-patient section and the burns section at Wenlock hospital bears disgusting testimony to the massive leakage of drainwater in the premises.

The tale of the OPD section is no different - every which way you look, there is sewage water slowly making its way to the surface of the ground where people walk.

The leakage near the burns section is huge with drain water gushing out from the manhole that was unable to contain the pressure due to the blockade in the age old underground drainage.

Moreover, the nurses and the patients are also adding the agony to the existing burden by dumping the used dressings and the waste clothes callously. Even as the authorities attended to the problem by launching a cleanliness drive, ignorant bunch of people including the patients were seen messing up the place time and again.

Speaking to daijiworld, district surgeon and medial officer Dr Rajeshwari said, "We took swift measures 20 days ago when the problem first arose. This is a very old drainage system due to which the hospital frequently faces such problems."

Currently, the health and family welfare department has granted Rs 25 lac to construct a new underground drainage. After the completion of the project, the problem would be resolved permanently.

Dr Rajeshwari lamented that the hospital building is a century old, and despite many proposals to allot land to shift the hospital nothing has happened. "The sorry state of the hospital and the pain the staff there suffer are not heard by the state government," she added.