Tirupati: Submerged ESI hospital continues OP services

Tirupati: The cellar in the ESI hospital, Tirupati has been inundated with rainwater for the past three days. As the central power junction system and power back-up battery panels were submerged under two-metre water, the power supply was cut off and the hospital was in darkness. This has led to the disruption of medical services in the hospital.

The Rs 108-cr ESI hospital has moved into a modern complex in 2019 which is adjacent to the old building. It has several advanced features. With the non-stop rain that battered Tirupati City and some other parts of the district three days ago, the hospital has been getting a huge inflow of water from nearby police parade grounds and MR Palli quarters.

Hospital staff created a temporary soil bund at one side to prevent water inflow through the old building entrance or else the entire hospital might have been inundated. The hospital quarters were also water-logged.

On Sunday, some efforts were made to pump out water and arrest further flow of water into the cellar. However, the authorities feel that they need more motors and may take about a week to bring the situation to normalcy and fully restore the power supply.

The staff at present are working under candle lights to extend referral services to the ESI beneficiaries.

However, partial power supply was restored in some parts of the old building. This would help them in extending referral services during nights as the hospital was not in a position to admit in-patients for the next few days.

Speaking to The Hans India, the in-charge Medical Superintendent of the ESI hospital Dr K Sridhar said that the drainage problem was cleared by the Municipal Corporation staff.

Due to huge inflow of water into the cellar the generator and power systems became non-functional. The OP services have been continuing as of now and if need be, the patients are being sent to other referral hospitals for further treatment.