Acute shortage of water at the Saheed Lakshman Nayak Medical College and Hospital here is hitting kidney patients the hardest.

A seven-bed dialysis unit was inaugurated at the hospital on September 26. But less than a month since it was made functional, the dialysis procedures at the unit has been hit because of the lack of sufficient amount of clean water, which is essential for the dialysis process, official sources admitted.

While in the morning shift from 9am to 1pm, the unit functions and treats patients, it remains closed in the second shift from 2pm to 6pm as it did not get the sufficient quantity of water.

Officials said large quantity of water was needed for dialysis as impurities of the blood are flushed out through water, which passes through the machine. The water has to be of ultra pure grade, and it is purified in a reverse osmosis plant before dialysis.

The establishment of the unit had raised hope of patients with kidney ailments as they were no longer required to travel to distant places such as Bhubaneswar and Cuttack. But because of the apathetic attitude of the officials concerned, the unit has failed to function to its full capacity.

“It’s most unfortunate that the newly established dialysis unit is lying defunct for lack of sufficient water. The problem should be sorted out at the earliest for the benefits of the patients,” said Koraput blood donors’ association president Bhabani Mishra.

According to official records, over 100 patients have undergone dialysis procedures since inception of the unit and for its each shift the unit requires around 1,400 litres of purified water.

Hospital superintended K.B. Subudhi said: “The unit has been established in PPP mode, and a private party is operating it. However, the party concerned had never placed the problem before us. All steps will be taken to ensure supply of adequate water to the dialysis unit, so that it functions for both the shifts.”