Broken tube-wells leave hundreds of patients without drinking water

FE Team | Published: July 21, 2026 23:09:56

THAKURGAON, July 21 (UNB): Patients and their attendants at Thakurgaon 250-bed Modern Sadar Hospital are facing severe hardship due to an acute shortage of safe drinking water caused by malfunctioning tube wells on the hospital premises.
The crisis has affected more than 500 admitted patients, forcing their family members to travel outside the hospital to collect drinking water. Some patients have reportedly been compelled to drink water from bathroom taps at night due to the lack of alternatives.
Hospital sources said the facility usually accommodates around 400 to 500 inpatients daily, while another 600 to 800 people receive treatment through its outpatient department.
To meet the demand for safe drinking water, the hospital has four to five tube wells. However, most of them have become unusable due to missing handles, nuts and bolts, while some have only the bore pipes remaining, with the main structures no longer in place.
With the hospital's tube wells out of service, patients and attendants had been relying on tube wells installed at small roadside hotels and food stalls outside the main gate. However, those establishments were removed in a municipal eviction drive about two weeks ago, leaving hospital visitors without their primary source of drinking water.
Asiya, an attendant of a patient admitted to the hospital's gynaecology ward, said she had been staying at the hospital for five days and now spends nearly Tk 200 a day on bottled drinking water for the patient and accompanying family members.
Another attendant, Mainul Islam, said he had admitted his three-year-old daughter to the hospital two days ago and had to fetch drinking water from a distant location outside the hospital because water was unavailable at night.
He said many other patients and attendants were facing the same problem.
Several attendants also complained that the water supplied through the hospital's pipeline contains dirt and insects, making it unsuitable for drinking, although it can still be used for washing and cleaning purposes.
Hospital Superintendent Dr Firoz Zaman Jewel acknowledged the problem and said steps were being taken to restore the water supply.