THOOTHUKUDI: For the fourth consecutive day, water remained stagnant at Thoothukudi Medical College Hospital (TKMCH). According to sources, over 400 patients are undergoing treatment at the TKMCH. It includes 50 patients in cesarean, delivery and labour wards, and a few in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Patients with critical medical emergencies have been shifted to Tirunelveli Medical College Hospital. Owing to the floods, patients at TKMCH were shifted to the first floor a few days ago.
On Thursday, Water level could be seen upto the knee at wards functioning in the old building block, including plastic surgery wards, nephrology ward, Tuberculosis ward and the administration block that comprises the office of Dean and Resident Medical Officer (RMO). Water stagnated in the new building block which consist of trauma care and casualty ward, outpatient units for children, orthopedic, surgery, dental, scan, are back to normalcy. The corporation has deployed a motor pump to drain the water.
A senior doctor said the TKMCH campus needs new buildings and the campus should be expanded so as to enclose all wards. The old building, built of stones, is decades old, which cannot treat any more emergencies, he said. Another official said there was a discussion about shifting the nearby court campus and the judge quarters to the outskirts, so that the premises could be utilised for the hospital. Meanwhile, measures were carried out to drain the water at Srivaikuntam government hospital.