United News of Bangladesh

Patients and their attendants at Thakurgaon 250-bed Modern Sadar Hospital are facing severe hardship due to an acute shortage of safe drinking water caused by malfunctioning tube wells on the hospital premises. The crisis has affected more than 500 admitted patients, forcing their family members to travel outside the hospital to collect drinking water. Some patients have reportedly been compelled to drink water from bathroom taps at night due to the lack of an alternative. Hospital sources said the facility usually accommodates around 400 to 500 inpatients daily, while another 600 to 800 people receive treatment through its outpatient department. To meet the demand for safe drinking water, the hospital has four to five tube wells. However, most have become unusable due to missing handles, nuts and bolts, while some have only the bore pipes remaining with the main structures no longer in place. With the hospital's tube wells out of service, patients and attendants had been relying on tube wells installed at small roadside hotels and food stalls outside the main gate. But those establishments were removed in a municipal eviction drive about two weeks ago, leaving hospital visitors without their primary source of drinking water.