Health: It is not yet monsoon, yet taps in Mongar regional referral hospital these days run with dirty and muddy water posing serious risks to patients and equipment.

The problem has extended to the staff quarters too.

Hospital officials blame the lateral east west highway widening that has started above their water source.

The water is drawn from Chompa about 17 kilometre from Mongar towards Trashigang.

“After the road widening began above our water source tank at Chompa stream, the water became dirty,” an administrative officer of the hospital staff said.

The hospital management has asked the contractors to rectify the problem immediately but nothing happened.

The hospital management with dzongkhag officials met to decide on measures, which the contractors are implementing. “If the road construction did dump muck below the road, we’d not have this problem,” the administrative officer said.

Tshering Construction’s engineer Sonam Wangchuk said the muck in the stream was dumped during emergencies for ambulance and civil servants working between 8pm and 7am.

Department of Roads’ engineer Kinley said that widening works near the stream unearthed water seepage.

“This water became muddy with vehicles plying on the road and flowed in to the stream,” he said.

The water supply for hospital staff at Yakgang has been damaged when KD Builders widened the road in the area.

However, the water pipes were not properly covered and were left on the sides of the road.

Damages to the water pipes have been fixed. The hospital sends a plumber and two health personnel to inspect the supply lines.

For the hospital water supply, as a temporary measure, water is collected from above the road from January 8, officials said.

The dzongkhag environment officer, Tshering Dolkar said the contractors should know the dos and don’ts and should not have dumped muck in the stream. She plans to visit the site soon.

Tashi Phuntsho, Mongar