Mumbai: Homeless man found dead outside KEM hospital

The body of a destitute elderly person (hunched forward) was found on the pavement outside the gate number 4 of KEM Hospital on Saturday. Pic/Twitter

A destitute elderly man was found dead outside gate four of KEM Hospital, Bhoiwada police believe he may be on his way for treatment when the death occurred. The incident came to light on October 14 when a consultant doctor at the hospital informed the police on X (formerly known as Twitter).

The doctor's post said, "A body has been lying outside gate no. 4 of KEM Hospital, Parel, Mumbai since last night. A very foul smell is coming, and no one has bothered to do anything about it. Please look into this matter." The Bhoiwada police station confirmed that they had retrieved the body of an elderly man outside the KEM Hospital. The body was found in a sitting posture with the hunched torso and the forehead touching the ground.

"We don't know if he was a patient or just a homeless person, but he had gangrene infection in his leg," said Bhoiwada police station's senior police inspector Subhash Borate. He mentioned that such cases do happen occasionally. Sometimes patients come for treatment alone and lose consciousness in the middle of the road. Borate said, "These cases don't happen frequently, but we do see them at times."

Another official from the police station said that many homeless individuals seek treatment at KEM Hospital and it's not uncommon for them to sleep on the footpath outside or in hospital corridors. He said that in this case the deceased person may have been on his way to KEM for treatment when he died. "These situations occur, but whenever we receive cases involving homeless or confused individuals, we try to help them as much as possible," the official said.

Meanwhile, hospital's dean Dr Sangeeta Ravat said, "We will take care of patients and anyone in need of treatment who comes to us. However, in this case, the person was certainly not our patient."