As officials of the state-run JJ Hospital of Mumbai claim the construction process in the medical facility from last many months, the resident doctors of the hospital have expressed a serious worry over the decades-old hostel building that might crumble down anytime.
The 30-year-old building has not seen a concrete renovation for a long time, and the problems still lurk- a leakage from bathrooms, broken pipes, plaster from the ceiling coming off, huge cracks on the outside wall, and broken pillars.
One of the professors of the JJ hospital, who wished not to be named, told the Free Press Journal that infrastructural problems have been observed since the time he was a resident in 2018.
“I was a resident for a long time and left the hostel a few years back,” the professor said.
JJ Hospital '300 Residents Hostel' |
“Almost every room of the 300 Residents Hostel witnesses an issue of water leakage. Thankfully it isn’t raining nowadays or else during monsoons the water seeps through the walls. Moreover, rooms have caught fungus, which is quite unhealthy to be near for many of the residents who have respiratory issues or asthma. No doubt that repair work is currently going on from the outside, but it becomes inconvenient with lack of privacy and dust constantly coming in,” said a resident doctor who spoke to FPJ over the phone.
The doctor added that the plaster suddenly comes off from the ceiling and the walls. “The condition is not at all feasible to live in the building,” the doctor concluded.
Apart from the construction, the professor also decried the space crunch inside the hostel rooms.
“Every year more and more residents come around, but the number of rooms hasn't increased,” the professor lamented.
Meanwhile, an official from Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission (MSHRC) told the newspaper that the commission has been receiving the complaints from resident doctors for a long time.
He said a structural audit report was also prepared in 2018 suggesting an urgent repair of the building on an immediate basis.
“Despite such an urgent requirement neither the PWD nor the previous dean took any steps to proceed with the much needed repairs,” the official said, adding, “no finance assistance was also sanctioned for the same”.
However, the commission has directed the Public Works Department (PWD) to start the repairs immediately.
The process has now begun and the commission is going to keep a constant check on the same, the official added.
The Commission has also demanded a complete compliance report on the matter from PWD and hospital authorities.
Also, the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) has stepped in to help the resident doctors of ‘300’ ensuring that every issue is looked upon one after the other.
Talking to FPJ, Vijay Patil, a junior officer of the PWD said that the department has been working on the repairs for the last many months.
"After the structural audit of the building, the PWD submitted the report to the government. The proposed budget is INR 12.66 crore. Hopefully, the file will soon be sanctioned and immediately we can begin the necessary repair work. The internal repairs have already started a few months back for the rooms made available to us," Patil added.
According to Patil, in the last three months, the department has managed to repair over 20 rooms.
