We were taking round of the labor ward and waiting ward. They had kept in the entry corridor along the wall a huge wooden frame of a set of cabinets, with the laminated doors attached to it. We entered the ward and found the cabinet from which it had come off.
“The entire door had come off in out theater” another Head of Department in the renovated building had said last, I recalled. It seems they had fixed it again.
“Sister, how did this come off?” I asked the sister-in-charge of that ward, pointing towards the frameless and doorless set of cabinets.
“Sir, I am fed up!” she said. “Less than six months from giving us the renovated ward, and things are coming off already. Shoddy work!”
“Hmm…” I said. It did look shoddy. I did not tell her about the other examples of such work I had seen in the other parts of he department. My job was to listen more and take action on what I heard, rather than tell things. Since I was the boss, my complaints to my juniors would not achieve anything more than venting my feelings.
“Sir, that is noting” she said “as compared to what happened the other day.”
She seemed to want me to ask ‘what happened?’ “What happened?” I asked.
“Sir, the top of the tap that supplies hot water from the solar geyser on the terrace blew off. Out poured very hot water that would not stop. The whole bathroom was full of steam. Finally they had to shut of the water supply in that line totally. Now the patients are without hot water.”
“You have informed the contractor, I trust” I said.
“I have. He says his job is finished after giving the ward to us. Now our people have to sort out any problems as they arise.”
“But that is not true” I said. “He has not given charge to the civic administration.”
“I will be pursuing the matter” she promised.
“That sounds like those natural geysers at Vajreshwari, which give out hot water containing sulfur. A lot of people visit that place for its medicinal value and religious feelings” I said to my Assistant Professor. “If people come to know about the eruption of hot water from a tap in a hospital, they will definitely throng the hospital to get some of the medicinal water coming from it. Had they not thronged the seashore when someone spread a rumor that the seawater had turned sweet?”
“Yes, sir” he said obediently. He knew it was useful to agree with the boss.
“The civic body can make a bit of money if every visitor is charged some amount. They could keep it free for those below poverty line.”
He kept quiet. Perhaps he sensed my sarcasm. Perhaps he was against charging people money for seeing a medicinal geyser.
