Heavy rains hit hospital services, KEM gets swamped

Mumbai: Among all civic-run hospitals, Parel-based King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital was the most affected by the incessant rains on Tuesday. The hospital saw flooding on the ground-floor premises due to which its entire paediatric ward had to be shifted to the second floor. “It was the most severe instance of flooding at the hospital since the July 2005 deluge in the city,” said Avinash Supe, dean of KEM Hospital.

“The water started entering by early afternoon and filled the lower-level premises i.e. the paediatric ward, where there were around 40 people,” said Mr Supe. The clogging lasted for up to three hours, hospital authorities said. However KEM authorities mentioned that the water level came down by evening after the high tide. The civic body had announced high tide timing around 4.35 pm.

KEM was not the only hospital, Nair Hospital located in Mumbai Central was also affected. However, the stiuation was better than the former, claimed Dr Ramesh Bharmal, dean of Nair College. “Water has not entered the wards yet. But there has been knee-deep water outside my cabin since morning. The water-logging can be seen at the main gates of the hospital too,” said Dr Bharmal.

Meanwhile, most civic-run hospitals face shortage of staff as railway services were hit. “Nurses and others have to do double duty as the ones who were supposed to do the evening duty couldn’t reach due to the rains,” said Dr Jayashree Mondekar, a spokesperson from Sion Hospital. Lack of staff also affected Kasturbha Hospital, which is located in Chinchpokli.