Darbhanga: The seven-month-old anti-retroviral therapy (ART) centre at Darbhanga Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) is facing an acute water crisis. Patients face great problem while staff are compelled to keep water bottles.

The ART centre came up in December in a building built in 2008 as a 30-bed psychiatric ward. But seven months later, there is no water facility.

Shankar Dayal Singh, a counsellor posted there said they have written to the DMCH administration but no action had been taken yet. "There're taps in the bathrooms but there is no water in them," Singh said.

He added that the problem is so serious that water is outsourced from nearby areas for the equipment that need to be sterilised.

Sanjay Kumar, an attendant, said he has been here since morning and had to spend over Rs 100 on drinking water. Hospital deputy superintendent Baleshwar Sagar, however, said submersible motor would be installed soon and the problem solved.