Leading gastroenterologist Dr. Deepak Amarapurkar’s body was found near Worli on Thursday morning. The 58-year-old doctor had been missing for nearly 36 hours from Tuesday evening. He was walking in waist deep water near Elphinstone Road when he slipped into a manhole that was left open by a few locals to help recede the rain water in the area.
Dr. Amarapurkar was identified by the striped shirt and a Rado wrist watch that he was wearing. His wallet was also found on him.
After the locals spotted the body at around 7.30 a.m, the police rushed to the spot. Since Dr. Amrapurkar’s family has already registered a missing compliant, two doctors who lived in Worli rushed to the spot to identify him. His body was taken to the civic run Sion Hospital for the post mortem. The last rites were performed at Shivaji Park where a large group of doctors who knew him had gathered.
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Dr. Amarapurkar is survived by his wife Anjali, who is a senior pathologist in civic run Nair Hospital. His son and daughter, both live in the US and are expected to reach the city by the weekend.
“We are still in shock that we have lost one of the best hepatologists in the country due to sheer negligence of authorities,” said Dr. Girish Mishra, who came down from Ahmedabad after he heard the news.
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Dr. Mishra said that the civic body was responsible for the floods and the open manholes too.
The civic authorities, however, maintain that they do not open manholes in the evening.
While the doctors feel that BMC should have answers for such a massive disaster, they also feel that locals need to be warned for taking such calls that has cost a life.