Heavy monsoon rainfall caused severe waterlogging across multiple vital departments of Kolkata’s premier SSKM Hospital on Thursday afternoon, submerging expensive life-saving medical equipment and trapping hundreds of helpless patients and their relatives.
The worst-affected areas were the Cardiology and Gynecology departments, both located on the lower levels. Within an hour of heavy rain, filthy drain water rushed into the patient wards. Essential medical supplies, disposable gloves, plastic bowls, and saline bottles were seen floating across the floor.
To escape the contaminated water and the risk of infection, patients were forced to sit cramped with their legs pulled up on their beds.Suffering of Patients and FamiliesThe crisis worsened when water flooded the lift shafts, forcing authorities to shut down the elevators for safety reasons.
Family members had to manually carry critical patients on stretchers through knee-deep water to reach upper floors. Relatives, who already have to navigate the crowded government facility for medicines and test reports, faced extreme hardship wading through dirty water repeatedly.
The hospital administration, along with the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), deployed high-powered pumps to flush out the accumulated water. While the water levels began to recede late in the evening, the incident has raised serious questions about the infrastructure and monsoon preparedness of the state’s largest referral hospital.
