Jamshedpur: Patients and visitors at the govt-run Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College and Hospital (MGMMCH) are grappling with a shortage of safe drinking water and malfunctioning lifts at its G+7 building amid a surge in patient footfall.All 50 water purifiers installed in the one-and-a-half-year-old building have remained defunct for the past three weeks because of mechanical faults. Only six water coolers, installed around six months ago, are functional, leaving hundreds of patients and attendants dependent on limited drinking water points.MGMMCH superintendent Dr Balram Jha said the hospital would replace the faulty purifiers with water coolers. “Sixteen new water coolers — two on each floor — will be installed within a month,” he said.Jha said the existing purifiers lack reverse osmosis technology and adequate filtration systems. Their functioning was also affected by the hospital’s dependence on borewell water, which sometimes contains mud and other impurities. He said the new coolers would be better equipped to filter borewell water.The shortage has forced visitors to buy packaged drinking water from outside. Md Imtiaz, a Mango resident who accompanied his ailing father to the hospital twice in the past month, said he had to buy bottled water on both occasions.The breakdown of 10 of the hospital’s 13 lifts has compounded the problem. With only three lifts operational, pregnant women, senior citizens and patients with mobility issues are often forced to take the stairs to reach OPDs and doctors’ chambers.The ₹386-crore, 800-bed hospital generally receives 600-700 OPD patients daily. However, a spike in viral fever and vector-borne diseases across Kolhan has pushed daily turnout beyond 900, straining its infrastructure further.Jha said senior health officials were informed about the malfunctioning lifts and repairs were expected soon.
Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College and Hospital receives 600-700 OPD patients daily
