As many as 50 female patients, admitted to the KEM hospital in Parel, were shifted to higher floors after the ground floor was flooded on Tuesday following the incessant rains . Doctors and relatives of patients had to wae through ankle deep water which entered all four wards in the ground floor.
The patients were evacuated from ward no 4 which comes under the medicine department. They were mostly admitted for viral fever and mosquito borne diseases. They were moved to five different wards on the floors above. Dean of KEM Hospital Dr. Avinash Supe said the last time the hospital was flooded like this was during the 2005 deluge. “We have two pumps but they could not take the load as the pressure of the water was high,” said Dr. Supe adding that the water had begun receding in the evening. “We did not cancel any surgeries or other procedures,” he said.
People walk along the flooded train track in Mumbai’s Lower Parel station after train services were cancelled, leaving them stranded. (Right) A flooded neighbourhood in Parel .
ICU not affected
The Out-Patient Departments in hospitals were less crowded. While the premises of civic-run Sion and Nair Hospitals too were flooded, water did not enter the buildings. Sion hospital faced a power cut for two hours. “There was no electricity but the generator back up was immediately activated. None of the Intensive Care Units or other medical equipment running on electricity was affected” said acting dean Jayashree Mondkar adding that the electricity was restored within two hours. She said the Sion area was flooded but the patients in the hospital were not affected as the wards were on a higher level.
The area around Mumbai Central’s Nair Hospital was also flooded. Dean Ramesh Bharmal said the staff members who reported for morning duty had to work double shift as many could not make it to work. He said the staff was given accommodation on the premises so that they did not have to head back home.
Leptospirosis scare
Medical experts said those who had ventured out in the floods should beware of leptospirosis. A bacterial infection, leptospirosis is transmitted to humans through rat and cattle urine. The infection is transmitted through unhealed wounds in the skin, abrasions, cuts especially in the foot.
The most common symptoms of the disease are severe fever, chills, weakness, muscle ache and vomiting. Doctors suggested an immediate course of antibiotic penicillin for the affected.
