Cyclone Yaas leaves Bihar hospitals in deep waters

It was a double whammy for hospitals in Bihar on Friday. Already gasping for breath and drawing bad press for the poor infrastructure, lack of medicines and proper nursing staff, hospitals in the state turned into floating health centres after rainwater gushed into the building, thereby inundating general wards, emergency wards and operation theatres.

Bihar has received heavy rainfall for the past 48 hours following Cyclone Yaas' landfall in Odisha and Bengal on Wednesday.

With around 90 mm rainfall, water entered the Hajipur Sadar Hospital in Vaishali district on Friday. An eyewitness said after the operation theatre and emergency ward got inundated in rainwater, patients were hurriedly shifted by their relatives on stretchers to safe places.

“Water has entered the X-Ray room too. So we decided to move out. But others are still stuck inside the hospital,” said one such patient's relative.

Read | Cyclone Yaas affects air and rail traffic in Bihar

In Patna too, water entered the Jaya Prabha hospital campus. This is the same hospital where scores of people flock every day to get themselves vaccinated during the Covid lockdown. But following incessant rain, strips of medicines were seen floating in the water-logged hospital campus.

Rainwater also entered the government hospital in the Rajendra Nagar area of the state capital. Leader of the Opposition Tejashwi Yadav tweeted a video of Rajendra Nagar saying expressing his dismay.

"Little bit of heavy rain & whole Patna gets submerged in water jeopardising the normal life. Same is the case with every city in Bihar. No civic amenities! No care for drainage & sanitation! Heaps of garbage at every corner! No wonder cities of Bihar are most polluted & filthy!" he said.

In Gaya, water entered the ENT ward of the Anugrah Narayan Magadh Medical College and Hospital. “Rainwater has entered the ENT ward after incessant rainfall. We are trying to drain out the water at the earliest,” said the nodal officer of the corona ward in ANMMCH, Dr NK Paswan.