After the India Meteorological Department issued a heavy rainfall alert for Wednesday, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation had asked people to stay home. But even as the rain poured down relentlessly, a private hospital in Wadala east had absolutely no qualms in discharging a 39-year-old patient, Javed Khan, who had suffered a brain stroke and was unconscious.
A video shared on a social networking site shows the hospital staff and family members of Khan taking him on a stretcher, wading through ankle-deep water to reach a waiting ambulance, 100 to 200 metres away. The ambulance would not come to the gate as the area was heavily waterlogged.
Javed Khan resides in Antop Hill with his wife Shamim and three kids and is employed at a call centre. A few months ago, he had jaundice but had recovered and was fine until Tuesday, when he suffered a brain stroke and has been unconscious since then.
Narrating their ordeal, Shamim said, “We took him to Sai Hospital in Wadala on Tuesday night at around 1am. They asked us to pay Rs 9,000, but when we expressed our inability to pay, they suggested we move him to Chunabhatti Hospital, where we had to face the same situation, except that here, they asked us to pay Rs 60,000. So, we shifted him to JJ Hospital and requested the staff for a bed in the ICU. But they informed us that ICU beds were for Covid patients. Rapidly losing hope, we somehow managed to arrange some cash and made it back to Sai Hospital by 4am and got Javed admitted.” On Wednesday afternoon, the doctors sought a CT scan for Javed. After examining the scan report, the doctors told Shamim they would not be able to help Javed and recommended he be moved to Sion Hospital. “On Wednesday, they suggested we shift him to Sion Hospital. Without having provided any treatment, they handed us a bill for Rs 17,000 and later, settled for Rs 10,000 and discharged Javed, saying they were not able to treat him. It was raining heavily and there was waterlogging outside but they couldn’t have cared less. They forcibly discharged us because we didn’t have cash,” said a distraught Shamim, who is now waiting for Javed to get an ICU bed at Sion Hospital.
Salman Dongarkar, a Yuva Morcha secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party who shot the video, said he witnessed the incident of the ambulance waiting for almost an hour, at a short distance from the hospital. “The ambulance was waiting almost an hour, around 100 metres away. The driver was not ready to set foot in the water. It was a situation when authorities were asking people to stay inside their homes. How can a hospital discharge a patient, that too one who is unconscious, at such a time? The health department should take action against such hospitals,” he added.
Resident Medical Officer Anil Singh, Sai Hospital Multi Speciality and ICU, said, “It’s not the first time such waterlogging has occurred in the lane. It’s an annual issue. We have been complaining to the local authorities but the situation is the same. They have installed a pump at the spot, but it stops working in heavy rain, causing waterlogging. The authorities should seriously look into the matter. In such a situation, an ambulance can’t drive in, resulting in problems for the patients. We moved the patient to Sion hospital so that he could get better treatment.”
Asked about the allegations made by the family he said, “The patient had a brain haemorrhage and he is going to undergo an operation on Friday. I am in continuous touch with the family. If they have any issue, I will meet them tomorrow,” added Singh.
Congress corporator from Ward No. 179, Sufiyan Vanu, said he had complained several times about the carelessness of the hospital to authorities. “We have complaints about the bio-medical waste being discarded in public places and they have even been fined by the BMC. No civic norms are followed by the hospital and their carelessness is evident,” Vanu said.
When questioned about waterlogging in the area, Sufiyan said the Sai Hospital area is another Hindmata, Parel or King’s Circle. “Geographically speaking, Antop Hill is a hill area and Sai Hospital is a low-lying area. Water coming downhill caused the waterlogging. Work is on for an RCC box drain, which will help the water reach the big nullahs. Almost 90 per cent of the work is done. The drain would have been useful this year but work was delayed in the lockdown,” he said.
source https://www.freepressjournal.in/mumbai/mumbai-staff-family-wade-through-ankle-deep-water-in-wadala-to-carry-patient-on-stretcher-see-pics
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