
Tehatta, May 21: A resting room-cum-night shelter at Tehatta sub-divisional hospital in Nadia that was inaugurated four months ago is yet to be thrown open to relatives of patients because it does not have electricity and water supply.
Relatives of patients, who are often asked by doctors to wait or stay back at night, resented the inauguration without ensuring basic connections.
The hospital authorities refused to accept relatives' demand to open the shelter during a thunderstorm last week. The authorities reasoned that as the shelter did not have electricity, local miscreants could turn it into their den.
Deepali Karmakar, a middle-aged homemaker from Palsunda village whose husband Deepak is admitted to the hospital with abdominal pain, said: "My niece and I have to spend hours under the sun. For women, answering nature's call becomes a problem. We demand that the shelter be immediately opened to us."
On average, nearly 100 relatives have to wait on the hospital campus daily and some of them have to spend the night there, depending on the condition of the patients.
The pradhan of the Trinamul Congress-run Tehatta gram panchayat, Chaina Mondal Khan, who inaugurated the resting room on January 20, blamed the hospital for not providing electricity and water supply.
"We had appealed to the hospital authorities to provide electricity and water connection. But they did not pay any heed," the panchayat chief said.
The additional chief medical officer of health of the Tehatta sub-division, who is holding additional charge as the hospital superintendent, rubbished her claim.
"The panchayat pradhan inaugurated the resting room despite our objection. She used my name on the plaque without my permission. We told her not to inaugurate the resting room without completing it, but she did not listen," Sachin Sarkar said.
"The panchayat never officially asked us to provide electricity and water connection. The onus is on the panchayat because we have not been handed over the building by it yet," he added.
The Tehatta gram panchayat constructed the resting room inside the sub-divisional hospital complex late last year at a cost of Rs 6 lakh.
Tehatta sub-divisional hospital has 60 beds. Around 500 patients visit the outdoor clinic daily.
District magistrate P.B. Salim said he would soon ensure that patient's relatives could use the shelter.