Delay in surgeries due to water shortage, Thiruvananthapuram General Hospital denies reports

Thiruvananthapuram: A day after reports emerged that Thiruvananthapuram General Hospital was forced to cancel surgeries due to water shortage on Thursday, the hospital administration denied the allegations and stated that they faced no problems in surgeries.

The hospital had reportedly informed the patients that there would be a delay in performing surgeries due to water shortage Dr Preethi James, the hospital superintendent, however, said that they had completed all the 26 surgeries which were listed for the day. 

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The doctor told TNIE, "The water supply in the KWA water line during Thursday morning was very minimal with water trickling in lightly. We immediately sought water tanker service for our day's surgeries at 8 am. Except for the slight delay in the arrival of the tankers, there were no issues. Over the course of the day, we got seven tanker lorries." 

As per a media report in Times of India, the water authority reportedly had to arrange 10 water tanks for hospital use. The district medical officer denied the claims and alleged that no surgeries were canceled due to water shortage. The officer pointed out that they had made alternate arrangements, due to which surgeries were not cancelled. 

According to N R Hari, the executive engineer at Thiruvananthapuram North, KWA, a three-time power failure at the Aruvikkara water plant led to water shortage at General Hospital and the nearby areas. Tanker lorries were called to resolve the issue at the General hospital. 

The back-to-back failure in the power supply at the pumping station led to the problem despite the hospital having tanks that could store two lakh liters of water. Meanwhile, the health department is reported to have issued a show-cause notice to the hospital superintendent due to the water shortage issues. 

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