Rourkela, June 15: Indoor wards of Rourkela Government Hospital are now in ankle-deep water following heavy showers over the past two days. The situation has worsened after last night's rain.

All the indoor wards were in ankle-deep water when The Telegraph visited the place around 1pm.

Several of the patients were in panic. Arati, who delivered a baby around 11pm last night, came to the ward around midnight to see the floor inundated.

"I could not believe it and the first thought that came to my mind was what will happen to my baby," she said.

Another patient at the septic ward, who had bandages covering parts of his body, said: "How will I feel safe in such an environment?"

Chief medical officer Barish Kumar Das said: "The inundation took place due to the ongoing construction of the first floor."

Rourkela Steel Plant is constructing a hundred-bed facility on the hospital's first floor.

Das said the asbestos cover on the two staircases had been removed and holes had been made on the expansion joints and water was getting in through these places.

This is a model hospital and provides health care service to patients from Odisha, Jharkhand and Chattisgarh. Though it has an indoor capacity of 128, it caters to around 300 patients on any given day.

However, the paediatric ward, which is located away from the main indoor building, was not safe from the water. Nodal officer at the special neo natal care unit (SNCU) Prasant Patra said: "Both the SNCU and the paediatric ward are safe."

Rourkela Development Authority chairman Sarada Prasad Nayak said: "Both Rourkela Steel Plant and our government engineers are looking into it. Due to the ongoing construction, all the outlets were blocked. We have drilled those so that water does not accumulate on the terrace."