Some patients who were admitted to the New Amsterdam Hospital on Sunday for surgeries were disappointed that they had to be sent home for a second time because of a water shortage at the institution.

The patients told this newspaper that they made a lot of sacrifice and effort to go to the hospital for the surgeries to be told that there was no water and that the surgeries could not be done.

Relatives of the patients checked with the hospital’s administration and were told that there was a “problem with the well and that by midday on Monday we would get water. But we left there after that and there was still no water.”

One woman said she arrived at the hospital on Sunday morning for the surgery which was scheduled for Monday and although there was no water she and the other women still remained for the night.

That night, she said was the worst she ever spent. According to her she and two other women had to share one and a half bottle [small] of water to take their ‘baths.’

Apart from that she said that the toilets could not be flushed and they had to endure the obnoxious scent. She said that she “had to phone my brother to bring a five-gallon jar of water and we used that to bathe with the next morning.”

The women had been admitted to the institution on another occasion but had also been sent away because of the problem. They were asked to return again after the problem had been rectified but said quite disappointingly that trip was in vain as well.

An official of the hospital told the Berbice media there has been a problem with water for the past three months. He said the shortage was mainly due to frequent power outages and the Guyana Water Inc.’s (GWI) inability to provide a full supply.

The official said that the Region Six administration is in the process of establishing an underground reservoir – which GWI helped to design – to address the issue.

Contacted, Divisional Manager 5 of the region, Chris Cathro told Stabroek News that at present GWI has a problem with the drive shaft on one of the high lift pumps.
He said that has resulted in a reduced supply of water not just to the hospital but the entire New Amsterdam. He said they are repairing the pump and it should be back in operation by tomorrow.

Cathro noted that the problem with water at the institution “has a lot of history behind it and they [hospital] had always complained about the service by GWI.”

He said following a meeting with officials of GWI and the hospital, it was decided that the water company would take over running the water supply at the institution for two months; that came to an end last week.

He said during that time there was no problem but they had advised the officials at the hospital to get a gas operated pump.

But, he said the hospital “supplied a small electrical pump that wasn’t sufficient and then they purchased a larger electrical pump” but it still was not effective.

He said the water company has provided the hospital with a tractor and trailer, four 450-gallon water tanks and the diesel for them to have “unconditional access to water at the plant.” He said the hospital was asked to provide a driver for the tractor.

In addition, he said the company has also provided them with a four-inch distribution line to assist an increased supply of water as well as a structure to support four 400-gallon water tanks as well as internal plumbing to connect the tanks.

According to Cathro, the four-inch line has been linked to the existing tanks for storage in dry weather.

The manager who commented that “a lot of the problem is internal management,” said he too noticed that taps were left running and water was wasted in the wards, kitchen and other areas.

He said the company “showed them how to conserve water and ordered the hospital to purchase pressure-release taps which would help to cut back on wastage.”