Dirty toilets, cramped waiting rooms and erratic water supply torment people visiting Old GGH in Vijayawada

Poorly maintained toilets, insufficient seating, and irregular water supply are major complaints at Old Government General Hospital in Vijayawada.

Poorly maintained toilets and bathrooms; insufficient seating for attendants; and irregular water supply in washrooms are the major complaints of people visiting the Old Government General Hospital (GGH) in Vijayawada.

This was brought to the attention of Minister for Housing and Information and Public Relations Kolusu Parthasarathy on August 6 (Tuesday) when he visited the hospital to inquire about the health of a victim of child sexual abuse.

Some attendants preferred the old benches under a tree on the promises to sitting in the waiting rooms, even during drizzles, as was seen on August 7 (Wednesday). Some men were seen squatting outside the room.

“The rooms are almost always full. They can accommodate a maximum of 50 attendants; others either sit on the benches or just stand,” says Ganesh Babu, a resident of Pedana whose wife has been admitted to the hospital.

Moreover, women and men complain of unhygienic conditions near washrooms. There are six washrooms for men and women each. The washbasins were filled with leftover food, with flies buzzing over them; waste was dumped in a corner outside the washrooms.

Ganesh Babu, who has been here since last Tuesday, says he has been using the bathrooms in the Pandit Nehru Bus Stand as the ones on the hospital premises are poorly maintained.

A group of women, who were in the waiting room, said there are no bucket or mug in the toilets, while water supply gets disrupted sometimes. “We get our own buckets sometimes and fill them from a tap nearby,” they said.