KEM hospital waterlogging raises serious concern says Bombay HC seeks solution from BMC

Mumbai, May 29 (PTI) The Bombay High Court on Thursday expressed serious concern over waterlogging at the civic run KEM hospital during heavy rains in the metropolis earlier this week.
A vacation bench of Justices Gauri Godse and Somasekhar Sundaresan directed Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation to inspect the hospital immediately and suggest remedial measures.
The bench said KEM at a time used to be considered a top hospital and urged the corporation to come up with a solution immediately.
"There has to be some solution. A hospital can't be flooded like this," the judges said.
Recalling the hospital's past reputation, the court noted, "KEM hospital was topmost in India. People from all over used to come. See the condition now. Something has to be done. KEM management cannot allow such waterlogging. Hospital has to be hygienic. Basic cleanliness has to be there."
The issue was brought to the court's notice by advocate Mohit Khanna in a public interest litigation taken up suo motu by the court two years back on the lack of infrastructure and medical facilities at state-run hospitals.
The advocate submitted media reports highlighting patients sitting in ankle deep water in the corridor of the KEM hospital at Parel in central Mumbai. Heavy rains had lashed the metropolis on Monday.
Khanna told the court that as per the reports, water had also seeped into the MRI rooms. He sought for urgent steps to be taken by the corporation to address the issue considering the onset of monsoon.
Additional government pleader P P Kakade told the court flooding had occurred in the corridor as the hospital was in a low-lying area.
The bench, however, said it cannot accept such an excuse.
It directed Kakade to take instructions from the state health department and inform on what measures are being taken.
The court issued notice to the BMC and directed its officers to visit KEM and suggest remedial measures.
The bench posted the matter for hearing on June 16 and directed both the Maharashtra government and BMC to file their affidavits detailing the steps taken to prevent recurrence of such incidents.
In 2023, the HC had taken suo motu (on its own) cognisance of the high number of deaths at government hospitals in Nanded and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar districts. Several infants had died in these hospitals due to a shortage of staff and medical equipment, particularly ventilators.
HC had appointed advocate Mohit Khanna as amicus curiae (friend of court) to assist with the matter.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)