Elderly cardiac patient at KEM’s ICU stunned as tiles from pillar fall on her

Nanda Mohite, 73, was jolted awake from her deep slumber on Thursday night around 10 pm when two tiles from the pillar adjacent to her bed at KEM hospital in Parel fell on her legs. The senior citizen, a resident of Bhoiwada, was admitted to the hospital’s ICU for cardiac patients next to the emergency ward in the hospital’s ground floor earlier in the day.

“I was sleeping when suddenly the tiles fell between my legs. Luckily my legs were spread apart and it fell in between but one part of the tile hurt my right leg and it has been paining since then,” said the elderly woman, pointing to her leg as she lay on bed number 13 in the ward.

It was the ward boys of the ward 20 who rushed to her quickly and cleared the debris. She was shifted to another bed temporarily but on Friday morning she was shifted back to the same bed. “I don’t know why they did that,” Mohite said, her voice feeble behind the oxygen mask that she was breathing from.

Did she think of complaining to the hospital authorities? “No. I haven’t complained to anyone,” said the senior citizen who said she mostly stays indoors. 

Mohite’s grandson is normally around to take care of her. She was given pain relievers following the incident and she said she was lucky to not have any major injuries.

The 1800-bedded KEM hospital is the largest civic-run tertiary care centre in the city and the ICU was recently renovated. “Tiles have become loose and we have informed the civic department to fix it. We have also asked them to check the other tiles,” said Dr AK Gavlani, additional dean of the hospital. He said that he was informed of the incident but was told that it was the patient’s relative who suffered from minor injuries and not the patient. Dean Dr Avinash Supe could not be reached for a comment.