Patients and their family members, who travel from far-flung areas to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bhopal, for the treatment of serious ailments, are being forced to wander from pillar to post in search of cold drinking water amid May’s blistering and scorching heat. ‘The Hitavada’ team visited AIIMS Hospital on Thursday at around 1 pm, uncovering distressing scenes involving patients and their attendants. Several water coolers installed on the hospital premises were found defunct. During the ground report, the status of a total of 6 water coolers was checked, out of which 4 water coolers had no water at all, while the remaining 2 were operational but dispensing extremely hot water. People were seen compelled to drink this hot water even in this severe heat just to quench their thirst. Due to this shortage of water, patients and their relatives present in the hospital were seen wandering for water. Chanchal, a resident of Rewa who has been at the hospital for the past three days for her mother’s treatment, shared her ordeal. She stated that she has been getting only hot water here, and most of the time, there is no water supply in the coolers at all, forcing her to purchase bottled water from outside every time.

 

Similarly, Rekha from Raisen, whose mother-in-law is admitted and who arrived just Thursday morning, reported witnessing the same deplorable condition since dawn, making it mandatory for her to buy bottled water from outside vendors as well. Furthermore, Tanisha, who hailed from Panna, expressed her grievances, stating that she has to run around for water in this intense heat and nobody is paying attention to this mismanagement. Voicing her distress, she added that they do not even have enough money to repeatedly purchase cold water bottles from outside. With thousands of patients visiting the OPD block and other medical departments daily, the current alternative drinking water arrangement is proving entirely inadequate. The failure to ensure a smooth supply of cold drinking water for patients inside the hospital premises is continuously raising serious questions about the hospital administration. Purchasing packaged drinking water from the market daily is not feasible for financially weak patients coming from rural areas.

 

The patients and their family members have strongly demanded the hospital management to rectify the arrangements related to cold drinking water at the earliest so that people do not have to wander around in search of water. When ‘The Hitavada’ team contacted AIIMS Bhopal’s PRO Dr Ketan Mehra, regarding this matter, he stated that he would have the issue investigated; if any defect is found, then remedial work will be carried out as soon as possible.