Couple loses first-born even before she could be named

Even before her parents could name their first-born or collect her birth certificate, they were handed her tiny, inert body and a death certificate on Tuesday. The baby that Rajesh Yadav and Rukmini wanted to name Sheetal got separated from her mother and aunt during the fire at ESIC hospital on Monday and died of suffocation.

Rukmini, 24, had delivered the baby at the hospital on October 15. Rajesh’s sister Dimple had arrived from their native place in UP’s Mirzapur to help with the new arrival. Rukmini had to be re-admitted on December 14 for treatment of stones in her gall bladder.

Rajesh, who works as a cook at Sky Gourmet, would drop the baby and her aunt at the hospital before going to office around 10.30am. “My wife was breast-feeding the baby but we could not keep her in the hospital all the time. So I would drop her off when I went to work and picked them up on the way home,” said Rajesh as he waited for the body. Dimple was also injured in the fire and is recuperating at Cooper Hospital.

On Monday, he received a call from Cooper hospital around 8.30pm informing him about Dimple. “I rushed but did not find my wife and baby there. So I went around looking at hospitals I could think of. Almost an hour and a half later, I reached SevenHills hospital and found my wife. The doctors told me to go to Holy Spirit hospital for my daughter,” he said.

Rukmini spent Monday night crying. Her condition is serious and doctors were in the process of moving her to ICU on Tuesday afternoon. “Last evening, she told us she spent a lot of time in the smoke looking for her daughter but couldn’t find her,” said a doctor. A rescue team found her on the fourth floor and brought her down. “Rukmini is young and should heal soon, but for the moment, she is quite ill from all the smoke she inhaled,” the doctor added.

Married four years ago, the couple had chosen to name their baby Sheetal. “They made a mistake in the birth certificate and stated the gender as boy. We were going to get the corrected certificate a week later. We were planning to name her after we received the certificate,” said Rajesh.

Girls watched in horror as mum fell off ladder

Aarti Kotharkar, 48 (in pic), was recovering from a hernia operation at the ESIC hospital, with her daughters taking turns to keep her company. The family from Kurla had hoped to take her home in a few days until tragedy struck on Monday. Aarti died after she slipped and fell during the rescue operations, and her two daughters are recuperating in different hospitals.

Aarti’s husband Suresh got an inkling all was not well when he got a call from Pooja on Monday. “She just said, ‘Papa, mummy padli (Father, mother has fallen)’ and the call got disconnected. I couldn’t reach them, and rushed to the hospital. I later found out the girls, Pooja and Priya, had seen their mother fall off the ladder during rescue as they awaited their turn. There is also a video circulating which shows her fall,” he said. Aarti died of suffocation and multiple injuries.

Suresh visited four hospitals before he reached Cooper Hospital and found his younger daughter, Priya. Pooja is at SevenHills. The girls have not yet been told about their mother’s death. “We do not know what to do right now and are running between hospitals and the morgue. The girls have been constantly asking about their mother,” he added.

Aarti was admitted on December 10 and underwent a surgery a day later. She was in a ward on the fourth floor. “She had started walking from the third day but the doctors asked her to stay in the hospital till she was better. She was getting better,” said her distraught husband.

‘Hospital indifference cost my father’s life’

Asharam Magre’s (in pic) hip surgery was put on hold at ESIC Hospital thrice over the last 20 days. Every time, the family was told it was not a life-threatening issue. But the delay turned fatal on Monday, as he couldn’t run for his life due to his immobility.

Magre’s son Anand, who had carried the 68-year-old’s breathless body to another hospital — willing him to live all the while — in an autorickshaw after the fire on Monday, said the hospital’s indifference cost him his father’s life.

Magre had fallen from bed at home in the Mahatma Phule slums near IIT, Powai, and broken his right hip. He was admitted to ESIC on November 30 after doctors advised surgery. “In fact, on Monday, he was supposed to be operated on, but the surgery was again cancelled in the morning,” said Anand. He added that in all the previous three occasions, his father would be kept without food and water in preparation for surgery. “Every time he reached the OT, the doctors would ask for some report which we wouldn’t have and the surgery would be cancelled. Whose job is it to ensure all reports are in place?” he said.

Anand, who works at the airport, said on Monday he had left for work when he got a call about the fire. By the time he rushed back, his father had been pulled out, but was unconscious. He didn’t wait for an ambulance and pulled him into an autorickshaw. A nurse from ESIC accompanied him to Sevenhills hospital. “My father was neither breathing nor did he have a heart beat during the ride. I told the nurse it was all over but she said let’s take him to the hospital and see,” said Anand.

Magre, who used to work as a guard, was declared dead around 5.30pm but the relatives had to wait 16 hours to get his body. Anand said he had availed of the ESIC scheme to facilitate the treatment of Magre and his 60-year-old mother. “It was the first time we were availing of the insurance,” he said.