Structural Audit Finds Koparkhairane Hospital Dangerous; NMMC Yet To Decide On Closure
In a glaring case of official apathy and callousness, the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation has allowed its women and children hospital at Koparkhairane to function from a building that was declared dilapidated and “unsafe for public use“ after a structural audit.
The audit report of the 50-bed Lokmanya Ahilyadevi Holkar Mother and Child Care Hospital building located in Sector 22, carried out by a consultant, was submitted on June 25.Since then two building collapses--in Thakurli and Thane--have claimed a total of 21 lives and injured several others. But the civic health department has still not taken any steps to move the patients and hospital staff from the shaky building.
The ground-plus-two-storey struc ture was built in 1996 and has 25 beds each for women and children. On Sunday , it had 100% occupancy . The hospital has close to 40 staffers, including doctors, 25 nurses as well as lab and pharmacy staff. It offers delivery and neo-natal care, and out-patient services to the economically weaker section.
Ravindra Sawant, a Congress activist, had written a letter to the Navi Mumbai municipal chief on August 4, seeking action against the civic officials concerned, for negligence. He pointed out that there is “a real danger“ of patients as well as staffers getting hurt from falling slabs or plaster.
“We are yet to take a decision on closing down the Koparkhairanebased mother and child care hospital (MCH) as we will have to find an alternative place to shift the patients. Probably , the patients will be accommodated at the Belapur MCH,“ said Navi Mumbai municipal chief Dinesh Waghmare, adding that the civic body has already closed down the Turbhe MCH after a similar structural audit report and shifted the patients and staff to Vashi's first referral unit hospital and Nerul's 100-bed general hospital.
“In engineering parlance, the stru ctural assessment report never uses the word `dangerous' to indicate the condition of a structure. But, if the word `unsafe for public use' is used in the report, then it definitely is a synonym of dangerous,“ said a civil engineer employed with a reputed structural engineering firm. Among other observations, the structural audit report mentioned “a major crack on the sloping slab on the extension building's terrace“, “heavy water leakage inside the lift room“ and “cracked beams in the lift room“ indicating hollowness.It also found the joints of walls loose and cracked, which causes seepage of rainwater in the building.
A Koparkhairane resident, whose wife has been admitted at the hospital, asked, “How will I shift her now? She has gone into labour pain already .“
A hospital staffer said, “We have to do our duty irrespective of the structural condition of the building. As and when we receive the order from our authority to shift to another MCH or general hospital, we will follow it.“
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