Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College and Hospital (MGMMCH) in Jamshedpur has begun receiving 3 million litres of dedicated water supply per day through a newly commissioned pipeline, ending a 16-month shortage that disrupted surgeries, sanitation and routine hospital operations.
The Rs 8.69-crore system became operational on Monday and includes a 3.5-km pipeline carrying water from the Subarnarekha river at Sankosai in Mango to the hospital campus in Dimna. Hospital authorities said the arrangement has entered a 100-day trial phase, during which leakage, water quality and pressure will be monitored and corrective action taken where required.
MGMMCH principal Dr Sanjay Kumar said the system was designed to meet the hospital’s water requirements for the next three decades. Raw water is being drawn through an intake well on the riverbank, treated at the hospital’s water treatment plant and distributed to different departments through storage tanks, he said.
The 750-bed hospital had previously depended on 11 water tankers supplied by Mango Municipal Corporation and seven borewells. Together, these sources were unable to meet the facility’s daily demand, creating repeated operational difficulties across clinical and non-clinical areas.
According to hospital authorities, more than 50 surgeries were postponed or cancelled over the past one-and-a-half years because of the shortage. The lack of water also affected cleaning and sanitation work, while patients, attendants and outpatient visitors faced difficulty accessing adequate water on the campus.
MGMMCH requires more than 3 MLD to meet its growing needs, including clinical procedures, surgeries, drinking water, cleaning and sanitation. The dedicated system is expected to provide a more stable supply, although the hospital’s trial phase will determine whether the new network can consistently maintain the required pressure, quality and volume across departments.
The project links hospital operations to the reliability of the wider urban water system. For the hospital, the immediate implementation milestone is the completion of the 100-day trial, during which authorities will assess the network’s performance and address leakage, water-quality and pressure-related issues.
