Patna, April 26: Cleanliness, they say, is godliness. But the two major health hubs in the city — Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) and Nalanda Medical College and Hospital (NMCH) — do not believe in this wisdom.

When The Telegraph team visited the PMCH and the NMCH, it found garbage strewn on the premises and the drains overflowing. The toilets were so dirty that attendants preferred to pay and use the deluxe washrooms outside the hospital campus.

“Washrooms and toilets in almost all wards of PMCH are in a pathetic condition. They are full of garbage and filth and are seldom cleaned. Also, the spaces between buildings and blocks are littered with garbage and filth and are not cleaned regularly. Attendants of patients are forced to frequent these spaces as there is no space for them,” said Purushottam Kumar, whose wife is admitted to the hospital.

The attendants said almost all the toilets in various wards of the PMCH are in a bad condition.

“The toilets and washrooms inside the wards are used only for dumping garbage. Doors are broken. Glass panes and latches are missing. Taps are either permanently dry or leaking all the time. The leakage causes mud and slippery floors, as a result of which many people have been injured. Toilet seats are soiled and unusable. For patients, there is no option but to use the toilets, but the attendants never go there,” said Chhapra resident Pankaj Yadav, who is looking after his ailing mother for the past 14 days.

Officials in the hospital said three private agencies, responsible for cleaning the hospital premises, are paid about Rs 22 lakh every month.

People had similar complaints regarding the sanitation condition at NMCH too.

“Cleanliness and sanitation are imaginary words in the hospital. We have to keep our nose covered all the time because of the stench. I have been in the hospital for the past 10 days, as my grandson is admitted in the paediatrics ward but I have never seen sanitation workers collect the garbage from outside the ward,” said Pratibha Devi, an attendant of a patient.

NMCH superintendent Dr Shiv Kumari Prasad said the public health engineering department and the Patna Municipal Corporation are responsible for the “mess”.

“The water supply to the hospital has been irregular for the past several weeks because of which floors have not been cleaned by the private agency workers. PMC workers have also not collected the garbage from the hospital premises. We have written a letter to both the agencies in this regard,” she said.

She added that the hospital pays about Rs 3.75 lakh to a private agency for the cleaning work.

Amarjeet Sinha, principal secretary, health department, said: “A meeting of the superintendents of all medical colleges has been convened on April 28. They would be apprised of a new policy to ensure quality improvement in medical colleges. The new tender documents for the cleanliness contracts will be more detailed. Each and every point about cleaning the hospital, like how many times floors have to be wiped, when the washrooms and toilets need to be cleaned, how many times the garbage has to be collected, what measures have to be taken and the number of employees required, will be specified in the tender document this year. This will make the agencies more responsible,” he said.