Mumbai: Kandivli fire victims were moved in the middle of the night

The burns ward displays Rajeshwari and Laxmi’s names, Laxmi Yadav’s son Mahesh and his uncle

Late in the night, families of two Kandivli fire victims were asked to relocate their patients from Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Municipal General Hospital (Shatabdi hospital) in the area to Kasturba Hospital for Infectious Diseases in Chinchpokli, a 32-km distance they had to travel for better treatment. This move was necessitated by the lack of a specialised burn unit and the unavailability of doctors at the former facility.

While BMC health authorities stated that this decision was made in the best interest of the patients, the families of 24-year-old Rajeshwari Bhartare, who had 90 per cent burn injuries, and Laxmi Yadav, 40, previously misidentified as Laxmi Bura by authorities, with 45 to 50 90 per cent burn injuries, expressed that this decision added to their trauma.

(From right) Rajeshwari's brother Krishna Bhartare along with their mother Devkabai and other relatives

They expected continuous medical treatment at the same hospital from the beginning to the end. "A senior official from BMC came to us and said we will have to shift the patients to Kasturba," said Pravin Mule, cousin of Yavatmal-based Rajeshwari. The official he referred to was Additional Commissioner (Health) Dr Sudhakar Shinde. "Kasturba has a dedicated facility for burn patients, and we made that decision keeping in mind the welfare of the patients," Dr Shinde said.

The patients were earlier being treated in the ICU unit of Shatabdi hospital, along with other critical patients, exposing them to infection. "It just happened that I have been in Mumbai for the past year. If I wasn't here, who would have taken care of this moving around?" Mule said. Rajeshwari worked as a caretaker for the elderly mother of Dr Glory Valthaty, a Scotland resident and citizen who was killed along with her six-year-old son in the fire at the Pavan Dham Veena Santoor building.

Also read: Mumbai: ‘Doctor had come from Scotland as mum was unwell'

Her parents are farmers back in Ramunaik Tanda village in Umerkhed taluka, Yavatmal district, and she had been working at the Valthaty house for the past few months after being transferred from Hyderabad by Curans Care & Wellness in the same city. On the other hand, it had been only 15 days since Laxmi started doing domestic work in the same house as Rajeshwari. "We stay in Borivli, and my mother was a temporary replacement for another worker who had gone to their village," said 17-year-old Mahesh, Laxmi's son.

Hope for survival

While at Kasturba, Rajeshwari's and Laxmi's families clung to the hope that the previous night's ordeal would ultimately prove worthwhile. "My child has suffered so much, and still, she is the one consoling us, telling us she will be all right soon in a feeble voice," said Devkabai, Rajeshwari's mother. Similar is the condition of Laxmi.

Devkabai and her husband, Bharat, were working on a farm when they heard the news from their 21-year-old son, Krishna. He had been in Amravati for the last couple of years preparing for police recruitment exams. "I received a call from didi when the fire broke out. She was panicking and trying to escape, and after that call, there was no communication," Krishna said.

Rajeshwari has been the pillar of their family, earning about Rs 15,000 a month and still sending Rs 5,000 for her brother's education and some additional money to her parents back home. The family had to borrow Rs 15,000 from their fellow villagers to arrange for a vehicle that would bring them to the city on an emergency basis.

Neither Laxmi's nor Rajeshwari's kin knew the whereabouts of their workplace. Police had to track down their families. Since then, both families have been running from pillar to post to save their loved ones. The two families said the patients were being taken care of by the hospital staff and nurses, but no doctor visited the facility as they were on Dussehra leave. Dr Mangesh Pawar, in charge of the burns unit at Kasturba, was unavailable for comment.

2
No of patients shifted to Kasturba hospital

40
Age of Laxmi Yadav