COIMBATORE: After repeated complaints regarding poor sanitation at toilets attached to the wards in the nephrology department at Coimbatore Medical College Hospital, authorities have resolved the issue, and District Collector Pavamkumar G Giriyappanavar held an inspection at the hospital on Tuesday.
Recently, a patient had written to the dean, pointing out that the fitting in the toilets were broken in the inpatient wards, while some restrooms were in nearby wards were being used as dumping grounds. She also shot a video that showed the unhygienic condition of the toilets in the ward, with no water supply and garbage accumulation, and the video had gone viral on social media platforms.
It was also alleged that just one toilet was functional, and since the women’s toilet had been blocked for long, women had been forced to use the men’s toilet.
Following this, the hospital authorities rectified the issue through the Public Works Department, said Dr Saravana Priya, Resident Medical Officer of CMCH.
“Even if there is a minor issue, the PWD officials have been asked to fix it immediately. Meanwhile, people visiting the hospital should cooperate to keep the hospital premises clean," she said.
A sanitary staff working at CMCH said, "Patients dump waste materials like food waste, cloth, plastic wastes and even liquor bottles in the toilets. They raise a complaint if the toilet is not working, but they do not realise the reason for the situation. The nephrology department is one of the departments with a high number of patients visiting every day. If people cooperate, we can deal with the sanitation issues.”
CPI(M) Coimbatore district committee has urged the administration to fix the sanitation issues on a war footing across the campus. The party’s district secretary C Padmanaban submitted a petition to Dean Dr Geethanjali, stating that thousands of outpatients and inpatients visit the century-old hospital daily, but the toilets and other facilities in many wards remain in a poor state.
According to the officials, the number of inpatients of the hospital was between 1,600 and 1,700, while the outpatient count goes up to 5,000 in a day. Over 20,000 people visit the hospital every day.
