Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai) - Live
Kitchen staff injured after ceiling plaster crashes at derelict KEM
MUMBAI: A 40-year-old kitchen staff sustained a head injury with three stitches after a part of the ceiling fell on her while working at the dilapidated KEM hospital’s nurses’ quarters and school of nursing building on Thursday morning.
According to the nurses, the incident occurred around 9.30am when Sangeeta Chauhan was about to start making chapatis in the ground floor mess kitchen when a huge part of the ceiling plaster fell on her.
This is the fifth incident in the last week wherein plasters are coming off from the ceiling of different rooms of the three-storey building, said nurses, adding that they have written 7-8 letters last year to the administration about the dilapidated conditions of 1926-built building that houses 300 nursing students.
“We students have been living in fear for the last several months, especially the last week. In one such incident, the student had a narrow escape in the bathroom area where a part of the ceiling fell in front of her. After today’s incident, we are scared for our life,” said the nursing student.
The nurses said if the administration doesn’t act after this incident, they plan a demonstration on November 8. “We are supposed to be the backbone of the hospital and we are forced to study and live in such conditions,” said a nurse.
An official from the nurses’ quarters and school of nursing said they have informed the administration about the dilapidated conditions that the nursing students are forced to live and study in.
“There are 300 students. We have 211 rooms and five classrooms. Almost all the rooms are in bad shape. Out of the five classrooms, three are shut down because of their dilapidated condition.
“One of the shut classrooms is a nutrition classroom. We have to adjust the batches and the nutrition classes are held in the kitchen area,” said a senior nursing faculty.
According to another official from the nursing school, the first letter was sent to the administration in 2017 after which a structural audit was done in 2018.
“It was found to be a C2 B structure which means a repair can be done without vacating the premises. No repair work has however been undertaken to date.
“There are leakages too. We have been following up with the civil department verbally and by sending letters” said the official.
Anil Kokil, a local corporator who visited the building along with KEM hospital’s acting dean Dr Harish Pathak on Thursday afternoon said he received many frantic calls from parents of nursing students.
“They are worried for their children. There have been multiple incidents in the past. I visited the hostel and will follow up with the administration,” he said.
Pathak said the civil department has been instructed to expedite the process of repair. “The proposal for major repair of the building is in the pipeline and should start within four to six weeks. We have asked them to expedite the process. Meanwhile, the civil department will take preventive measures to ensure there’s no repeat of such incidents,” he said.