"Although this is the fifth day of my stay here, I haven't received even a single drop of water from the hospital", said Pariyar, adding that the hospital has no water even in the toilets. "At least back at the health post in my village we have plenty of water for drinking and for sanitation purposes," she said.
According to Bimala Shahi, a hospital staffer at the patients registration section, some 70 patients and the same number of pregnant women visit the hospital every day. The acute shortage of water has left the patients helpless and also exposed everyone to the risk of contracting various diseases due to the poor sanitation.
Janitors at the hospital say that without the water they are unable to maintain sanitation at the hospital.
Kalikot District Hospital, located at district headquarters Manma, has been reeling under the acute shortage of water for the past two years. The water supply has been cut by locals, said Shahi. "Locals have cut the pipes and intercepted the water for their own use," she added.
Menka Sanjal, a senior staffer at the hospital, said that patients may be contracting additional diseases due to the drinking water woe. According to him, the hospital has recruited someone to supply water around the hospital premises. But he is currently on leave and the problem remains unaddressed.
"People cut open the water pipes which are in the open road", said Yuwaraj Shahi, a local. "It is very difficult for the hospital to find all the leaks and repair them", he added.
Acting office chief of the hospital Hari Bahadur Chhetri said that water supply to the hospital through pipes was intended to be a temporary solution. "I raised the water issue at the village development committee council but nothing has been done," he said.
The hospital has appealed to people time and again not to cut its water pipes, but to no avail. According to the staff, they plan to raise the issue at the upcoming meeting of the Hospital Development Committee and appeal to the district administration also.
Related story
Desperate search for missing girls as nearly 80 dead in Texas f...
