Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai) - Live
The many stories nestled inside the 86-year-old British-era structure
THANE: “I joined in 1986 and since then the hospital has been like a family, it is difficult to see these buildings demolished in the coming days,” said Rupali Chinake, a ward attendant. She clearly remembers her first day at work.
“The Tuberculosis building was newly set up in the mid1980s and 13 of us were hired to work in this building,” she added. “Though there were two buildings, some of the wards still were devoid of sufficient beds to accommodate all patients till the 80s.”
Chinake, 59, who will retire after four months, said that some of the wards were devoid of beds and patients were treated on the floor.
From a small chawl-like structure wherein patients were made to sleep on a makeshift mattress on the floor to a 367bedded hospital, the 86-year-old journey of the Thane Civil Hospital, was reminisced by the present and former employees of the hospital on Saturday. It was because the 18 stone structures at this hospital will be demolished and it would be replaced with a state-of-art multispeciality structure.
The hospital is headed for a revamp, the plan for the same was approved by the state government last year.
The present hospital was constructed in 1936 by Narayan Vithal Sayana, a developer in the name of his father Vithal Sayana. He was also a developer who had constructed iconic structures like the then Prince of Wales Museum and the General Post office building in the city.
Kailash Pawar, the chief surgeon of the hospital said, “The work order of the new hospital will be given this week. The work for the new hospital will begin for which around 18 small and big structures in the premises will be demolished and we will be temporarily shifting to two buildings in the Thane Mental Hospital premises.”
All these structures are made up of stone and were constructed in the British Era, he added. Thus, to preserve the memory they decided to click photos and share some old memories.
Around 300 employees, including those retired or transferred, were present for the event.
Most of them clicked photos with the old Victorian-style buildings, the old cornerstones below them and their respective offices and wards which will soon be demolished.
Deepak Thombre, 50, a supervisor in the hospital said, “Three generations of my family have worked in the hospital since its inception. I started as a ward boy and am now a supervisor here. My grandmother was the first to work here when the hospital was set up, then my father continued to work here and after him, I also followed in their footsteps. Today we revisited all the old structures and took photos as a memory of the place.”
The hospital at present has 367 beds. The new hospital will be a multispeciality state-of-theart hospital with 900 beds, as per the state government’s plans.
AWalkdownthe memory lane
Digambar Yadav, a vintage car collector and great-grandson of
Vithal Sayana said, “Vithal Sayana and his family stayed in Colaba in the early 1900s. In 1912, they constructed a temple in Thane and a weekend home. The home was looked after by a caretaker and no one stayed there except on a few holidays.”
In the early 1930s, Vithal Sayana came to Thane with his family and decided to settle here, when he realised there were no facilities in the city and it should at least have a hospital. Vithal, however, died in 1932, but his son decided to construct a hospital in his name.
The foundation stone was laid in 1935, however since the entire hospital would take more than a year, the Sayana’s started a small facility at their home itself.
“Patients were treated in his house and later when the building was ready, they were shifted. My grandfather named the hospital after his father,” said Yadav.