JNIMS hospital inundated as Manipur’s flood situation remains grim

With flood situation in Manipur deteriorating, Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS) hospital, the biggest state-run hospital is on the verge of facing another disruption in its healthcare services as flood waters have started entering the hospital campus on Tuesday.
This is the second time in less than four months JNIMS hospital faces flooding after the devastating floods in Manipur in early June leading to the temporary closure of its services and suspension of academic activities.
Patients were shifted to other facilities and it was after a week-long cleanliness and restoration drive that both hospital and academic services at the biggest state-run hospital resumed normal service in the last week of June.
The main cause of the June flooding was breaches of embankments of Imphal River that runs on the western side of the JNIMS hospital.
This time, the water-logging inside the JNIMS campus was due to the flood waters from the Iril River that flows on the eastern side of the hospital campus.
With flood waters from the Iril River embankment breached at Kshetri Awang Leikai yet to be blocked, more areas on the eastern side of the river were inundated. The volume of the flood waters was so huge that it overflowed Kongba River, a small river running on the eastern side of Iril River and inundated more residential and vast paddy fields including JNIMS hospital campus.
With the flood waters starting to enter the hospital campus, the low-lying areas of the campus, including main entrance road and by-lanes inside the campus, had already been under water.
So far, the normal healthcare services in any ward of the hospital were affected.
However, hospital authorities, in a notification, informed that due to sudden increase of water level in and around JNIMS complex, all the patients who were admitted in different wards of the hospital were to be evacuated with immediate effect and “no new admission shall be done till further notice.”
The steps were being taken up in the larger interest of the patients and their safety with the approval of the higher authorities, it added. Torrential rains that lashed across the state, particularly in the hill regions in the last few days triggered the severe flash floods in the valley.
The flood situation in the state continued to deteriorate with more areas in the valley, particularly in Imphal East, Imphal West and Thoubal districts were severely affected by the floods. Waters from the breached river embankments continued to inundate more inhabited areas and vast tracts of agricultural land in these three districts.
Even though no official data is available, sources from authorities from the three affected districts estimated the floods affected over 5,000 houses while destroying vast tracts of agricultural lands so far.
Inability to block flood waters breaching embankments of Iril River even on the second day, worsened the flood situation in the district.
Following a distress call from the district administration, the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) swung into action and swiftly evacuated flood-affected residents from Kongba Kshetri Leikai and Northern Nongada of the district today, officials said.
With the waters receding from Seijang and its adjoining areas of the district, SDRF teams intensified its rescue operations of evacuating elderly, women, children and other vulnerable residents stranded after the waters surrounded their homes to safer places.
Meanwhile, as many as 22 landslides were reported along Imphal-Ukhrul NH-202 alone in Ukhrul district and so far 20 of them were cleared and works of clearance of the debris were in progress in the remaining two areas.
Since landslides in these two areas were massive, alternate routes have been prepared till the work is completed.
Apart from that, clearance works of numerous landslides along various PWD, PMGSY roads in the district were underway, officials said.
Meanwhile, rains continued to lash across the state with maximum rainfall of 102.5mm recorded in the southern part of Imphal East district.
However, quoting the IMD Imphal centre forecast, officials of the state DIPR said no heavy rainfall is expected in the next two to three days.
However, the impact of rain in the last three-four days will continue for a few days, it added.
On the other hand, district administrations in these flood affected districts started distribution of relief materials to flood victims.
In view of the deteriorating flood situation, pertinent authorities of the state government extended the closure of all educational institutions- schools, colleges and universities for another day.
Orders regarding the closure stated, “In view of the prevailing weather conditions in the state, which have led to incidents of floods and landslides across various districts, all schools, including those run by the state government, central government, private institutions, government-aided, and unaided schools, shall remain closed on Wednesday, the 17th of September.”
The government closed down all the educational institutions across the state on Tuesday for the same reason.