CHENNAI: Heavy rains that lashed the city on Thursday flooded several hospitals and primary health centres.
Government Peripheral Hospital in KK Nagar, Chrompet and Tambaram Government Hospitals and a section of Kilpauk Medical College had anywhere from ankle to knee deep water by Thursday morning.
With most wards in the Chromepet Government Hospital flooded, over 100 patients were moved to the Tamil Nadu Government Multi Super Speciality Hospital and Government Kasturba Gandhi Hospital for Women and Children.
Hospital authorities said all the patients are safe and stable and that every time it rains, their premises get flooded.
Similarly, patients in the neuro ward at Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital were shifted to other wards as rainwater entered inside the campus. Here too, patients have been reported safe.
Like every year, the Government TB Hospital in Tambaram got flooded. "We have been requesting to shift the premises because even the access roads to the hospital get flooded easily. Outpatient services have been affected for more than a week here," said an attendant to one of the patients, P Usha.
Water also entered inside the premises of the ESI Hospital at KK Nagar. A spokesperson from the hospital confirmed that all facilities were operational throughout the day including Covid wards.
"Roadside eateries, mobile repair shops and even an Amma Unavagam have been functioning over manholes at Anna Main Road in KK Nagar. ESI hospital is situated along the same stretch. It has been more than two decades since any of these manholes have been cleaned, as they are located inside the shops. This is one of the major causes of flooding in the area," said V Gopalakrishnan, a resident.
However, the Institute of Child Health (ICH) campus in Egmore that often gets flooded was in a better position on Thursday. They had installed high power motors to clear rainwater. As a result, the downpour did not cause much hindrance to patients on Thursday.
Though officials from the health department said heavy motors have been arranged at major hospitals to avert any woes, all it took was one good spell of rain to find out whether they were adequate or not.